Chapter 125: Say [Bonus]

[Bonus Chapter thanks to BobtheEngineer <3]

Jaxir stared at Elara for several seconds.

For once in his life he had no idea what the hell he was supposed to say to that. The worst part was that she wasn’t even wrong, which took most of the fun out of being offended in the first place. He had improved a lot over the last couple weeks, but bone and skin still did most of the work where his face was concerned.

Another two or three weeks would probably be enough for his face to look healthy again, but filling out the rest of his frame would take longer once he was cleared to start working out properly. Even then, Jaxir figured a couple months would be enough to get somewhere close to where he wanted, assuming his body stopped finding new and creative ways to threaten his life.

Still, the last time he had anything resembling his peak physique he had been seventeen, and now that he actually had the frame of a grown man to build on, there was a good chance he would end up looking better than he ever had.

All of which was to say that Elara had made a perfectly fair observation, even if she had delivered it with all the tact of a brick to the forehead.

What Jaxir couldn’t figure out was why his face had become relevant enough for her to look offended by it, and he found himself staring at her with a faint smile while he waited for the missing piece.

Nick seemed to reach the end of his patience first, his mouth falling open before he muttered, "This fucking bitch."

The Commander had gone silent as well, his expression frozen on the screen, while Lue had leaned back into frame after apparently hearing enough to become interested again.

Jaxir watched his old friend drag a palm down his face before releasing a long groan, and something about the look in Lue’s eyes made it clear that he understood something everyone else had missed. Whatever that something was, Lue made no attempt to save Elara from it and instead settled back to watch the disaster finish developing.

Elara ignored Nick entirely, but Niri’s little frown deepened as she looked between them and asked, "Why are you being mean?" She turned toward Jaxir for half a second, studying him with enough seriousness that he almost started laughing again before she faced Elara and declared, "Jaxir is very handsome."

The complete confidence behind the statement made Jaxir’s smile pull wider, though he decided against pointing out that Niri’s standards might need some refinement.

Elara’s mouth opened, but whatever response she had prepared seemed to abandon her, and a faint flush crept across her face while Niri continued staring her down.

"Ah... sorry, Niri, that was mean of me," she managed, the sharpness leaving her voice as she shifted under the girl’s disapproval.

Niri’s frown remained as she pointed toward Jaxir and corrected her, "You should apologize to Jaxir, not me."

But Elara couldn’t seem to bring herself to even after hesitating for several moment. She looked at Jaxir and seemed to recall every reason she had disliked him in the first place, and it only made it harder.

Jaxir raised his brows, still more entertained than insulted, while she fought with herself for several seconds before turning her face away with a snort.

"If he’s going to ruin Jahbri’s life, he should at least be handsome," she muttered.

The room changed before Jaxir had even decided whether he had heard her correctly, and every person around Elara seemed to look at him again with a different set of eyes.

The members of her team shifted where they stood, their attention moving between Elara and Jaxir as pieces he couldn’t see began falling into place for them.

Even the Commander frowned as understanding crossed his face, while Nick blinked once, then again, before his eyes widened and the words forming on his tongue never made it out.

Jaxir barely noticed any of them. The accusation itself had not even had time to make sense before that name reached him and stripped the humor from everything around it.

Jahbri had occupied a part of his mind he had spent years avoiding, a wound he could just barely ignore for a day or two at a time now, but had once forced him to check through the same old message over and over again.

The fact Elara knew her was one thing, but hearing her speak as though she knew what had happened between them caused something inside Jaxir to go very still.

His smile remained for another second before it disappeared, and the last trace of amusement left his features with it.

The lines of his face hardened until there was nothing left to read, while a coldness spread through the room that had nothing to do with the temperature.

His ice-blue eyes grew paler as mana gathered behind them, a faint light taking shape within his pupils while his attention settled completely on Elara.

Nick’s expression changed first, and whatever realization had shocked him moments ago disappeared beneath the instinct that told him not to speak right now.

Around Elara, the others stiffened as their breathing became heavier and the mana moving through their bodies began to drag, every circulation meeting a resistance that had not existed seconds before.

Jaxir could feel the pressure spilling out of him, but the thought of pulling it back never crossed his mind while that one sentence repeated itself through his head.

Most of it had gathered around Elara without Jaxir needing to direct it, pressing down until her posture stiffened and the confidence she had worn throughout the conversation finally cracked.

She lifted her eyes to his, shock replacing the irritation on her face when she realized that the man who had been smiling through every insult was no longer smiling at all.

"What did you just say?" Jaxir’s cold voice penetrated through her skull.