"My Luna is not a bartering chip," he said. "And neither is yours."
Maya's eyes finally lifted, something raw and unguarded flickering across her face before she had the presence of mind to hide it. Gratitude, maybe. Or shame. Or both, knotted together in a way she wouldn't want anyone to name.
Ethan said nothing. He stared at the table.
Richard's chest heaved once. He'd miscalculated. He knew it the moment the words had left his mouth, had felt the temperature in the room plummet, and understood he'd crossed a line, not a political line, but a personal one, which was infinitely more dangerous.
"I meant no disrespect to your Luna," Richard said, his voice stripped of pretense for the first time since he'd walked through Kade's doors. "I meant... I thought...."
"You thought I wanted what every weak man wants," Kade said quietly. "More. At any cost." He sat back, deliberately, as if physically putting distance between himself and the suggestion. "I am not that man."
