"Like… think about it," Razeal began again, his tone calm but carrying a strange weight now, as if he wasn't just answering her question anymore but exposing something deeper, something he had thought about far too many times, "I hate them… to every fiber of my being." His voice didn't rise, didn't sharpen it stayed level, almost detached but there was something underneath it, something that didn't need to be expressed loudly to be real, "I know it… and it's in my eyes too." Slowly, he lifted his hand, pointing two fingers toward his own eyes as he leaned forward just slightly, his gaze locking onto Maria's, "Look… can you see it?"
Maria instinctively focused on his eyes then, drawn in by both the question and the way he said it, and what she saw… was not what she expected. His eyes deep crimson, almost unnaturally intense were cold. Not just calm. Not just controlled. Cold in a way that felt… empty.
