'Why does she get like this,' Lucas thought, still holding himself slightly stiff from the two seconds under Celia's gaze.
Beside him, Nova was doing the thing where you look at someone from the very corner of your eye and immediately look away the moment they might notice.
'I have never,' Nova thought, 'been this scared of someone shorter than me.'
Gideon cleared his throat.
Both of them straightened at the sound, which said a lot about the state they were in.
"Now that that's resolved," Gideon said, stepping forward with the calm energy of someone who has decided to be the adult in the room and is fully committed to it, "can we actually talk about the duel?"
The arena air settled back into something normal. Lucas rolled one shoulder. Nova unfolded his arms. The immediate danger of Celia had passed and they were both willing to pretend the last five minutes had gone differently.
