“Worth it,” Garrick says cheerfully.
I exhale, rubbing the back of my neck. “Give them time, Garrick. Before you start . . .Garrick-ingall over everything.”
He blinks. “I’m an action now?”
“You know exactly what I mean.”
His smirk falters—just enough.
“They have a lot to consider. Valen visited with Amara this morning and gave her thewhole realm is depending on youspeech. Just days after her parents—” I stop. Shake my head. “It’s a lot.”
The mood shifts.
Jarek runs a hand over his face, suddenly looking older than he is. “Shit. I didn’t know Valen was doing that today.”
Rian nods once. “That’s not something you walk off.”
Garrick rubs his palms over his knees. “Yeah. Alright. Sorry.”
His smirk wavers and I let the moment settle.
“I know you’re joking. But they’re still trying to breathe through it.” The weight threads through my voice, quieter now. “They lost everything. Watched their home burn. Watched people die. And then we brought them here—to an outpost full of strangers with expectations they never asked for.”
I pause, looking down at the canteen in my hands, the sweat cooling on my skin.
“I spoke to Amara this morning.”
That gets their attention, their focus sharp like a blade.
I rake my fingers through my damp hair. “She’s having a hard time.”
Jarek shifts, running a hand over his mouth. “Think she’ll stay? Take on being the Spiritborn?”
I meet his eyes. “I don’t know.”
The words hang there—blunt and honest.
“But it’s important that it’sherchoice. And for all our sakes—I hope she does.”
Rian looks at Jarek, sweat beading at his temple. He wipes them away with the back of his hand. “She’s still here.”
“She is,” I say quietly. “But let’s not make it harder on her than it already is.”
I keep seeing the way she looked this morning. Still wrapped in her blanket, hands fisted in the edges like she’s holding on for dear life. I don’t know what to do with that image. So I file it away next to the rest of the approaching war.
Garrick leans back on his elbows, jaw clenched now. “Yeah. Alright. Message received.” Then, his voice lower than before, “She doesn’t owe any of this to us. Or to anyone.”
“No,” I agree. “She doesn’t.”
He glances up at the sky. “Beautiful and terrifying. That’s the worst kind. The kind that ruins you while you thank them for it.”
Jarek snorts softly. “Spoken like a man already halfway ruined.”
“I’m just saying,” Garrick goes on, quieter now, “she’s not just strong. There’s something in her. Something thatknowshow to survive.”
He looks at me. “And that scares the shit out of me more than the Shadow Forces do.”
I don’t laugh or argue. He’s right.
