Lucian's lips curled, forming a smile that could belong just as easily to a mob boss as to a storybook villain—cold, calculating, and steeped in mischief. It was the kind of expression he'd worn more than once before, a look he knew well and wielded with practiced ease. He was no stranger to the image it cast.
"What about a fun test first?"
Lucian offered the question with a low, deliberate tone, his eyes narrowing slightly as they flitted from one adventurer to the next. He studied them in silence for a breath, already dissecting their strengths and weaknesses with nothing but intuition, instinct sharpened by battle and years in darker places.
The warrior grinned and slapped the table with a meaty hand, the thud echoing beneath the hum of the city. He stroked his beard with fingers calloused from war, his broad chest puffing with enthusiasm. There was a familiar fire in his gaze—the kind of fire that welcomed a challenge without second thought.
