"I want to see you. The real you, under all this mask you've created for yourself"
Her smirk twitched—bitter, defensive—her fingers curling into the cot's edge as if anchoring herself. But her eyes never left his, locked in a silent duel, a battle neither of them named but both understood.
"Real me?" she echoed, her voice low and jagged, a scoff scraping past her lips. A harsh laugh followed, brittle at its core. "You think you can peel back the ice and find some sad little girl to save? That's not me."
Her words snapped—barbed, biting—but her breath hitched. Just for a second. A crack in the queen-like facade she had built so flawlessly. And Kael caught it.
