Her expression doesn’t change.
“You’ll let her die?”
“No.”
I meet her gaze.
“But I’m not handing the country over to a man who thinks collapse is a management strategy.”
Something flickers in her eyes.
Not anger.
Something closer to frustration.
“You still think this is about control.”
“What else would it be?”
“Survival.”
The man behind Wren tightens his grip on her arm.
She winces.
My jaw tightens.
“Touch her again,” I say quietly, “and you lose that hand. I should have killed you.”
Russ mutters beside me.
“Both hands.”
Adam’s voice stays calm.
“You’re not getting out of these woods.”
The man laughs again.
“You think this is the only team out here?”
That gets everyone’s attention.
Mara shoots him a sharp look.
“Enough.”
He shrugs slightly but stays quiet.
Mara looks back at me.
“You don’t understand the scale of what’s coming.”
“Try me.”
“The Architect isn’t creating the collapse.”
“He admitted he accelerated it.”
