Is it noticeable in general? Probably not. A by-stander, or a stranger standing in front of him probably wouldn't notice the way the tension floods back into his shoulders. How his jaw clenches just a little tighter. But Inej does. She sees the sharp line of new tension across every part of him, because she has studied him for the entire time she's known him.

She also knows she sees so much more of him than the rest of the world. In part because she was his spy and that was the nature of their working relationship. But it was more than that, too. The kind of 'more' that neither of them were ready to put real words to yet. The kind that spilled over and under every thought, every action and reaction that spirals between the two of them. It's intense and it's real, she's thrilled by it and terrified of it all at once.

The cinnamon burn of swallowed starlight tangles between the cage of her ribs as the weight of those six words settles in her chest. "You know you don't have to... don't you? That...we'll be with you, empire or not..."