Kaelis' eyes slowly widened.
'Did he just say…?'
For a moment, Kaelis simply stared at Ezra.
His mind felt strangely blank.
Like everything had stopped moving.
The fountain.
The stars.
The investigation.
Everything.
He searched Ezra's face for any sign that this was a joke.
Any indication that Ezra was teasing him.
That he had misheard.
That exhaustion had somehow scrambled his brain.
But Ezra just kept staring back at him.
His eyes were glossy from throwing up.
His face looked pale even beneath the moonlight.
And despite the darkness around them, Kaelis could see him clearly.
Far too clearly.
"You…"
The word died halfway.
Kaelis didn't know how to feel.
Didn't know how to react.
He wasn't even sure he remembered how to breathe.
"…should you really be staying out now?" he finally asks. "You should—we should go inside. It's freezing out here, you…"
Of course that was what came out first.
Concern.
