Page 48 of Cold Ignition

“Yeah.”

Kael was quiet for a second, studying him in that way he had—like he was already three steps ahead of whatever Keanu was trying to figure out.

“And?” he prompted.

Keanu exhaled sharply, dragging a hand through his hair.

“I don’t get it,” he admitted. “They’re—” He gestured vaguely. “Solid. Together. That’s not ... loose. That’s not open.”

“And that means?”

“That means I shouldn’t be in the middle of it,” Keanu said flatly.

Kael’s mouth twitched, not quite a smile. “Shouldn’t?” he repeated.

Keanu frowned. “Don’t do that.”

“Do what?”

“That thing where you answer a question with a question.”

Kael shrugged lightly. “Hey, you go with whatever works.”

Keanu pushed off the console, restless energy tightening under his skin.

“He kissed me,” he said, like that explained everything.

Kael nodded once. “I figured.”

Keanu blinked. “You figured?”

“You’ve been walking around like you got hit by a truck,” Kael said dryly. “Didn’t think it was from the mission.”

Keanu huffed a breath, dragging both hands over his face.

“He said I didn’t understand Alexios,” he went on. “That I’d be surprised by what he wants.”

Kael didn’t interrupt. Didn’t soften it. Just let him keep going.

“I thought...” Keanu hesitated, jaw tightening. “I thought they were—a closed circuit. That what they had didn’t leave room for anyone else.”

“And now?”

Keanu let out a slow breath. “Now I don’t know what the hell I’m looking at.”

Silence settled between them for a moment, broken only by the quiet hum of the systems around them.

Kael finally spoke. “You’re asking the wrong question.”

Keanu frowned. “Yeah? Then what’s the right one?”

Kael’s gaze held his, steady and unyielding. “What do you want?”

The words landed harder than anything else that had been said.

Keanu stilled.

Because that—that was the problem.