Selena.
I did not realize when Kael moved.
One moment I stood there, caught between them, my thoughts tangled and my breathing unsteady, and the next, he was in front of me, close enough that I had to tilt my head back to meet his gaze.
There was nothing soft in his expression.
Nothing gentle.
Only something that made my pulse quicken in a way I did not want to understand.
"You keep testing us," he said quietly, his voice low and measured, as though he had already reached a decision I was not part of. "You keep pushing, waiting to see how far you can go."
"I am not—"
The words barely left my lips before his hand came up, not rough, but firm enough to silence me as his fingers brushed lightly against my jaw, tilting my face upward.
"You are," he said. "And you know it."
