Chapter 231 --231
Her expression had gone completely, utterly serious. Cold in the way that wasn’t cruel but was absolute — the face she used when she had decided something and the deciding was entirely finished.
She looked at him the way she looked at everything she intended to use well.
"Strip," she said.
The word was quiet. Final. No performance in it.
Mahir’s flush deepened — color spreading properly now, ears tipping back slightly. But his hands moved to the first fastening of his jacket without hesitation, because whatever his face was doing, his body understood the order perfectly well.
Jacket first. Set aside with more care than the situation technically required — old habit, formal training.
The undershirt.
The rest, piece by piece, folded or set aside or simply removed with quiet efficiency.
He was aware of her watching the entire time. Not impatiently. Not with any flicker of uncertainty. Just watching, with that cold, steady attention that somehow made the warmth in his chest worse rather than better.
When the last of it was gone he stood straight, chin up, hands at his sides. The collar at his throat pulsed its faint, steady blue.
Elara looked at him.
The silence stretched for long enough that it had weight.