His gaze stays on Drazan.
Drazan doesn’t step closer. He doesn’t reach for him.
He just stands there, letting it be what it is.
Unfixed. Unforgiven. Real.
I keep my hand on Kael, because I feel the line he’s walking. The space between what he was told and what he’s recalling.
I worry that one wrong push could make it snap back. The torture and programming they put him through.
He exhales slowly. Then he takes a step back.
He looks at me, just for a second. Long enough that I see it.
I see that he’s choosing me.
Then he looks forward, past Drazan and the others, out into the desert.
“We move,” he says.
Drazan watches him for a beat, then nods once.
The team shifts in response, falling back into motion like they’ve been waiting for that exact moment.
I stay beside Kael as we move. Close enough to catch him if he falters. Close enough that he doesn’t have to stand alone.
The past isn’t settled. It’s not even fully understood, but it isn’t a lie anymore either.
It isn’t over, but it’s no longer broken.
30
LEENA
We move. No one says it. There’s no command or signal, it just happens.
The others fall into formation around us, like they’ve already decided what this is now. What Kael is. No weapons are trained on Kael anymore, but no one is relaxed either. Trust will build with time.
Kael’s weight shifts against me as we walk. He’s hurt, but he’s holding himself more than he was before. I adjust, taking more of it, bracing him where his steps falter, and he lets me.
“You’re pushing too hard,” I murmur, keeping my voice low enough that it’s just for him.
His breath is warm against my ear.
“If I slow…” he starts.
He doesn’t finish it. Doesn’t need to.
“If you slow, we adjust. That’s how this works now.” A beat. Then, quieter. “You don’t do this alone.”
His arm tightens around my shoulders, not enough to hurt. Just enough that I feel the choice in it.
“I know,” he says.
The words aren’t clipped or broken like he’s spoken before. They’re… real. Another shift in him. A welcome one.
We walk like that for a while.
