The air felt too tight. Too charged.
Like the entire room was holding its breath, waiting for something to break.
I didn’t move.
I didn’t speak.
I just waited.
That was all I could do.
The silence stretched so long it almost became unbearable. My pulse drummed in my ears, loud and relentless, and the space between the three of us felt smaller with every passing second.
Then Rafael sighed.
The sound was quiet, but it cut straight through the tension.
I turned—almost too fast—and finally met Rhys’s eyes.
For a moment everything else faded.
Goddess.
Those eyes.
Golden and intense, but softer than I had expected. The anger that had been simmering there moments ago had shifted into something deeper… something warmer.
Something that made my chest ache.
Rhys stepped closer, slow an
