She wanted to deny it. Wanted to maintain the professional fiction that her defense had been purely tactical.
But she'd built her reputation on honesty. On facing uncomfortable truths directly.
"Yes," she admitted quietly. "I care about you. And yes, it terrifies me. Because I shouldn't. You're with the Saintess. You use dark powers that corrupt you. You represent everything I was trained to be suspicious of. And somehow – " Her voice cracked. " – somehow none of that matters as much as the fact that you seem different to everyone else. That you see past the competent captain mask, past the woman proving herself, see me."
[EMOTIONAL BREAKTHROUGH: SERIA ADMITTING TRUTH]
[VULNERABILITY: MAXIMUM]
"I do see you," Damien said softly. "I see someone brilliant, capable, trapped by constant need to prove worth that should be self-evident. Someone isolated by competence because admitting vulnerability feels like weakness. Someone who deserves partnership, not protection."
