Riley's lips curved into a faint grin, clearly satisfied.
"Well then," he said lightly, "Reina it is."
Reina opened her eyes fully for only the second time that day.
Her blue eyes were deep and mesmerizing, like sunlight piercing a clear lake—clear enough to reveal the depths beneath, yet bright enough to reflect the world above.
They held wisdom forged through countless centuries, power refined through endless struggle, and the quiet authority of someone who had stood at the apex of existence and survived. And yet, beneath all of that, there was something softer.
Something playful.
Something curious.
Something… alive.
Those eyes carried both distance and warmth, restraint and longing, as though she were carefully observing the world while revealing nothing of the countless years she had endured.
They spoke of battles fought in forgotten realms, of kingdoms that had risen and fallen, of vows made under shattered stars and broken only by time itself.
