“That’s not the same thing.”
I turn, already scanning the camp. “Where is Korr?”
“I’m here.”
His voice comes from behind me, close and too calm. I spin.
He stands inside the line of departure, posture steady, eyes alert, like this is exactly where he expected to be when this moment landed.
“You approved this,” I say.
“I have accounted for it,” he replies.
The distinction snaps something in me.
“You approved a child going into the desert,” I say, heat rushing into my voice. “Do you have any idea what you’ve just done?”
“I do.”
“No,” I snap. “You don’t. Because if you did, you wouldn’t be standing there so damn calm.”
“He will not be alone,” Korr says. “He is capable.”
“He is achild,” I shoot back. “And you do not get to decide that this is acceptable.”
“I do,” he says evenly. “Because he will go whether escorted or not.”
“That is not your call to make!”
“It was already made.”
Jolie steps between us then, one hand gripping Rverre’s shoulder, the other clenched tight at her side.
“Stop,” she says, voice breaking through the tension like glass. “Both of you.”
I force myself to breathe, to pull back from the edge I hadn’t realized I was standing on.
“This isn’t strategy,” I say, quieter now but no less fierce. “This is a line. And you crossed it.”
Korr’s gaze holds mine. “So did you. When you agreed to take Rverre.”
“That’s different.”
“How?”
“Because she’s beingcalled,” I say. “He’s being pulled along.”
Illadon steps forward to stand in front of me.
“No,” he says. “I’m choosing.”
The certainty in his voice steals my breath.
“I choose to protect her,” he continues. “You taught us that.”
The words hit like a fist into my chest.
I look at him—really look at him—and see what I should have seen sooner. Not a boy playing soldier. Not a child chasing danger. But someone who has already accepted that staying behind would cost him more than leaving ever could.
