The Two Conditions [Part-2]
"Perhaps," Aden said, his voice firm, unyielding. "But one I expect to hear from your own lips." His tone was tranquil, but the strain beneath it might have sliced glass.
Leon's silence warped, hanging in the tense air between them, until a slow, deliberate smile twisted his lips. It fell just short of reaching his eyes, which stayed alert, wary, and yet. interested. "Sir Aden," he murmured softly, the words slipping into an almost-confessional tone, "I would adore to accept your condition. Honestly, I would." There was a weighty hesitation, the sort that seemed to make the air around them thicken with unspoken possibility. His face relaxed by just the smallest margin, showing a fleeting vulnerability. "But…"
The one word struck Aden like ice. Tension bristled through every muscle as his jaw clenched. "'But'? Triumphant Leon, what are you saying—'but'?" His voice was tight, commanding, his normally calm veneer threatened by a spark of irritation.
