"Kael. You're glowing."
Crickets. Well, not crickets. Screaming and death. But emotionally, crickets.
"Is this a you thing or an us thing?"
Silence again.
"Noted. That means it's a YOU thing," she observed. "Let the record show that I was not a nightlight before tonight. Kael Ashenvale has given me dragon cooties."
Kael continued ignoring her. Typical. She was delivering critical visual intelligence, and he was too busy decapitating things to acknowledge her contribution.
She was mid-inhale for another observation when the world went quiet and not because he asked nicely.
Every Dark Fae on the wall stopped. Every one in the air stopped. Every wing locked mid-beat like hummingbird's. Every blade froze mid-arc. Hundreds of them, suspended in a stillness so absolute that the absence of sound had physical weight.
