"W-What are you doing?" Xara stammered, her voice catching as she gulped, watching Aether slowly loosen the collar of his shirt in a deliberate, almost seductive way.
Aether grinned, sharp and teasing. "What do you mean?" he asked, his voice smooth and low. "You brought me here… to this lonely, abandoned place. You asked me to spill my deepest secrets… So tell me, what do you think is going to happen now?"
Xara's eyes narrowed slightly. "Aethe—" she began, but he cut her off before she could finish.
"Yes," Aether said firmly, his voice calm but intense. "I was scared of you. Genuinely. Your nature, your unpredictability…"
He looked straight into her eyes as he continued. "Doing things recklessly… cursing people, stealing hearts—literally, killing without hesitation, loving blood like it's candy. Using your own children as test subjects, just to uncover truths that might not even exist... That's seriously messed up.
That's not normal by any definition!"
