“Yes,” I reply. “And no one here is going to tolerate that.”
Verr exhales slowly, something shifting in the way he stands, the stillness in him turning into something more focused, more deliberate.
“They’ll respond to that,” he says.
“They’ll have to,” I answer.
Skot inclines his head once, satisfied. “That’s enough to start pressure.”
“It’s enough to start movement,” I correct.
He doesn’t argue.
The room feels sharper now, like everything in it has aligned around a single direction. I step back slightly from the table, the cold of the stone lingering against my fingertips as I pull away.
“So what happens when they start reacting?” I ask.
Verr answers without hesitation this time. “We give them direction.”
“How?”
“We make it clear where the threat is and what needs to be done about it,” he says. “They’ll align themselves accordingly.”
I study him for a moment, watching the way he says it, the way this has already become real to him in a way it wasn’t before.
“And when they do?” I ask.
His gaze holds mine. “Then I move.”
The certainty in that lands somewhere deep, settling into something that feels dangerously close to relief.
This is actually happening.
The realization shifts something in me before I can stop it, and the words come out before I’ve fully decided to say them.
“Then I’m coming with you.”
Both of them go still.
Verr’s response is immediate. “No.”
I don’t back down. “Yes.”
“That’s not an option.”
“It is if you want me to stop guessing,” I say, stepping closer again, refusing to let him shut it down. “You’re going out there to deal with this. I’m not staying here waiting for someone else to tell me what happened.”
“It’s not safe.”
I let out a quiet breath, something close to a laugh slipping through before I can stop it. “None of this is safe.”
“That’s different.”
“No, it’s not,” I say. “It’s just farther away from where you can see it.”
He steps closer, the space between us narrowing in a way that pulls the air tight with it. “You don’t understand what that means.”
“I understand exactly what it means,” I reply, holding his gaze. “It means I stop hearing about it secondhand and start seeing what’s actually happening.”
