Gavriel: Did Dex ever tell you about the time he got caught talking to his own reflection in the armory?
Serena: That didn't happen.
The knot in her chest loosened by one degree.
Gavriel: Full fucking conversation. It was right when he became Commander of the Draken Forces. He was practicing delivering formations and disagreeing with his own suggestions.
Serena: No he wasn't.
Her heartbeat slowed down, the rhythm aligning with Gavriel's. He held her tighter and kept talking because talking was what he was good at. Talking while being dragged to the bottom of a frozen lake inside a volcanic crater was, frankly, the most on-brand thing he'd done all day.
Gavriel: He told his reflection it was 'thinking too small.' I watched it happen for four minutes before he noticed me. He was pissed. Best four minutes of my life.
Gavriel: My arm is right here and it's staying here, and if this lake wants you it's going to have to take both of us, and I'm very annoying to digest.
