There was silence. Thick. Unforgiving.
Zander’s gaze flicked to me. Something unreadable in it. “There was nothing in that report that indicated you wanted her back.”
Remy didn’t speak right away. But his face… gods, his face.
He looked at me then, reallylooked, and I felt that silence turn to fire beneath my skin.
He’d had time. Time to tell me the truth.
Time to find me. Totry.
But he hadn’t.
Not until I showed up inhisdomain. In the guild with a dragon’s mark that hadn’t finished bonding.
Remy’s voice was quiet now. “I made a mistake.”
“You made achoice,” Zander countered.
“And so did you,” I said, stepping back from both of them, voice trembling but firm. “Neither of you gets to act like I’m the only one who’s been left in the dark.”
Neither argued.
Because I was right.
The storm hadn’t passed, but the battlefield had gone silent. And maybe that was worse.
“I decide,” I said, my voice low but firm. “Who I’m with. Not either ofyou.”
That silenced them more effectively than a blade drawn between ribs.
Remy’s lips parted, but I raised a hand, already knowing what was coming.
“I need space.Bothof you, please, just leave.”
“You shouldn’t be alone right now,” Remy said, softer now, a trace of the tenderness from earlier in his voice.
Zander’s gaze darkened as he stepped forward. “If anyone stays, it should be me.”
And just like that, the argument sparked again, this time quieter, but no less tense.
“You think she needs you after what just happened?” Remy asked, stepping closer.
“I’vealwaysbeen there for her,” Zander snapped. “Where were you when she was thrown into the trials? When her bond nearly killed her?”
“Where wereyouwhen she was screaming on the Ascension Grounds, begging her dragon to save her?”
My pulse thundered in my ears.
“I saidno,” I repeated, firmer now, and they both turned to look at me, like they’d forgotten I was still standing here between them.
“Let me rest.”
Remy’s jaw twitched, but he nodded, retreating first with a glance over his shoulder. Zander lingered for a second longer, his stare searing.
But he didn’t fight me on it.
He left in silence, closing the door softly behind him.
