Blazar cleared her throat, the sound unnaturally loud in the charged silence between them. She waved a hand dismissively, fingers trembling despite her attempt at nonchalance, as if she could physically shove away the storm of confusing thoughts that had been brewing in her mind for weeks now.
The gesture was sharp, almost violent in its desperation.
"It's because you're my boss," she said, forcing steel into her voice.
Kaelric's jaw tightened, the muscle twitching beneath skin.
His hands, usually so steady when wielding power or death, clenched into fists at his sides. "You don't follow rules," he began, each word carefully measured, deliberately cruel.
"You're always in trouble. You're defiant beyond reason. You ruin my plans with your reckless abandon." Each accusation landed like a hammer strike against an anvil, reverberating through the cramped cell. "And yet I keep you."
