'Was he always this cold?'
Maybe.
Maybe it came from the streets.
From having to live like that, to survive like that, where softness didn't get you anywhere, and hesitation only made things worse.
But the gaze—
It was different.
There was something sharp in it, something steady and unflinching that didn't match how young he was, and it was enough to make Kaelis feel it, a faint shiver that ran down his spine before he could even stop it.
'Why does he look at me like that?'
And yet, when Ezra spoke again, his words didn't match it at all.
"I-I'm sorry," Ezra said quickly, the tension in his voice obvious now that Kaelis was actually listening for it. "I didn't know, Your Highness. Please don't get me punished."
Kaelis blinked.
Then again.
It was funny.
It really was.
Because from the start, from the moment he pulled him away, the last thing on Kaelis' mind was punishment, and yet Ezra kept circling back to it like it was inevitable.
'Does he think I'd do that?'
