“I’m not making you small,” I say, stepping even closer. “I’m refusing to let you be a martyr.”
“I’m not dying,” she snaps. “I’m ending a war.”
“You don’t end wars alone.”
“No,” she fires back. “You end them by making them too expensive to continue.”
Silence crashes between us.
Heavy.
Pressurized.
Like the room itself is holding its breath.
Behind me, screens flicker.
Data shifts.
The system is moving faster now.
Like it knows what’s coming.
“If you do this,” I say, quieter now—but harder, “they will never stop coming.”
She stands.
Right in front of me.
Close enough that I can see the tremor she’s hiding in her hands.
Close enough that she can see I’m not bluffing.
“Then stand with me.”
The words don’t sound like a request.
They sound like a line drawn.
And for the first time—
I don’t know which side I’m on.
Behind us—
An alert hits.
Sharp.
Urgent.
Ronan’s voice cuts in over comms.
“Aaron.”
Everything in me tightens.
“Not now,” I mutter.
