How to exert power
Lucavion and Valeria continued walking through the soft-lit streets of Andelheim, silence settling between them. Valeria's thoughts shifted repeatedly to Lucavion's expression back at the inn, the momentary flicker of regret he'd shown when he'd brought Riken and Sena to Mariel. She had seen many faces of Lucavion—mischievous, dismissive, exasperatingly carefree—but this one felt different, like a glimpse through the armor he always wore.
'Why did he look at them that way?' she pondered, her steps steady but her mind swimming with the image. Lucavion's face had been so brief, that passing regret gone as quickly as it appeared, yet it lingered with her. The way his hand had rested lightly on Riken's shoulder, how he'd referred to them as "lost little lambs"… it was a softness he usually masked with sarcasm or indifference. But she wouldn't bring it up. She wouldn't dig.