Lara held Ares' gaze, searching his eyes as though she could peel apart every carefully guarded word and expose the truth hidden beneath them.
Most men faltered under her scrutiny. Powerful men. Dangerous men. Kings of empires who trembled ever so slightly when she looked too deeply.
But Ares did not look away.
His dark eyes locked onto hers with a fierce intensity that made her chest tighten. There was something raw in them tonight—something unguarded. A storm barely restrained behind cold composure.
For the first time in two lifetimes, Lara found herself unable to hold someone's gaze for long.
Her breath caught.
She looked down briefly, fingers curling against the fabric of her dress before forcing herself to meet his eyes again.
"Ares…" she said softly, almost carefully, as though afraid the wrong words would shatter something fragile between them. "Marriage is not a contract people enter lightly. It's a lifetime commitment."
