Azura's POV
The air in the narrow room grew completely stagnant, heavy with a thick, suffocating silence that pressed against my eardrums like a physical weight.
Rhydor remained frozen right beside the heavy oak door, his broad back still turned entirely toward me.
The echoes of my reckless, unyielding words seemed to bounce off the damp stone walls, hanging suspended in the small space between us like a cloud of smoke.
I kept my eyes locked onto the wide expanse of his shoulders, tracking the ragged, heavy rise and fall of his spine with every single breath he drew into his lungs.
He didn't shift his boots. He didn't drop his hands. He didn't make a single sound for what felt like a painful eternity.
Then, his massive head turned just a fraction of an inch to the side, his sharp jawline cutting a stark silhouette against the dim light of the room.
