Shu looked down at her for a second and nearly laughed from pure exhaustion.
'Of course this is happening now,' he thought, keeping his face still. 'Why would I be allowed to go home in peace for once?'
Raniel did not move back.
"Well?" she asked, her eyes locked on his face. "You were inside a restricted dungeon before the strike team fully moved in, and somehow you came out alive after all that mess. Want to explain that?"
He stared at her, then let out a tired breath through his nose. "You really picked the perfect time for this."
Her brows pulled together. "That is not an answer."
"No, it isn't," he said, shifting the bat on his shoulder. "But it is the one you are getting right now."
For a second, neither of them spoke.
Her gaze moved over him properly then, from the dried blood near his mouth to the tears in his clothes and the way he was standing a little too stiff for someone pretending to be fine. The sharp look in her eyes flickered.
