The temperature in the dining hall seemed to plummet as my words hung in the air like a blade waiting to fall. Valen's wine glass froze halfway to his lips, his grey eyes sharpening with the kind of dangerous intensity that had made him the most feared ruler on the continent. Beside him, Camila's face went pale, her diplomatic composure cracking under the weight of implications that struck at the heart of their most carefully guarded secret.
"You know nothing about Rin," Valen said with quiet menace that made the enchanted chandeliers flicker overhead. "Nothing at all."
I felt Stella tense beside me, her enhanced senses picking up on the sudden shift in the room's atmosphere even if she didn't understand the full context. Without thinking, I reached over and gently covered her ears, my enhanced reflexes moving faster than conscious thought as I sensed the conversation about to take a much darker turn.
