Luna held her breath when she heard that negotiating for the crystal was genuinely on the table.
She had hoped the crystal was somewhere in the possible outcomes of this session since Orion always liked to "negotiate" it with her…
But knowing something is possible in the future and hearing Orion actually confirm it now that she had stuff to offer were two different things, and the confirmation landed somewhere deeper than the strategic part of her mind.
Julius didn't change his expression. Yet something in him went still, the specific stillness of a person who has heard something unexpected and is recalibrating before they show any of it.
"Truly, not joking... But that alone isn't enough for me." Orion looked at Luna directly. Not the way he'd been looking at her during arguments, scanning for weak points in the position. The way he looked at something he'd already decided was his and was simply determining the terms of collection.
