“It always did that,” Stella said, her tone light but her gaze alert.
The Silver Wolf turned her attention back to me. “You intend to go through it.”
I nodded. “It gives us a chance to move without being tracked as easily.”
“But it puts you somewhere that doesn’t welcome hesitation,” she replied.
“I don’t plan on hesitating.”
Nova’s gaze held mine for a moment longer than I expected, and then she stepped a little closer.
“You won’t go alone.”
Keegan moved then.
It wasn’t dramatic. Just a step, just enough to close the space between us, but it shifted everything.
“I’m not letting her walk into that marsh without backup,” he said.
I turned to him. “I didn’t ask you to let me.”
“You don’t have to ask,” he said. “It’s not happening any other way.”
I held his gaze because I knew where this could go, and I wasn’t willing to let it unravel here, not now.
“We shouldn’t all go the same way,” I brought up. “Maybe we separate and mislead the Priestess’ prying eyes. Some of us are on the surface, while others are below.”
The Silver Wolf’s gaze moved between us, then back to Rendel.
“And you?” she asked. “Where do you place yourself in this?”
Rendel didn’t hesitate. “Where I’m needed.”
“That’s not an answer,” she said, her eyes narrowing. I glanced at Keegan, worried the animosity might skew our choices.
“It’s the only one that matters right now,” Rendel muttered.
There it was again. That undercurrent. It wasn’t conflict, exactly, but something that hadn’t been settled.
Keegan took another step forward, this one more deliberate.
“That’s enough,” he told his parents, and my shoulders relaxed. Of course, Keegan had it handled.
The Silver Wolf looked at him.
So did Rendel.
And for a moment, the balance shifted again.
He didn’t look away.
Didn’t back down.
He just stood there, steady, grounded, like he had decided that whatever this was, it wasn’t going to move past him.
“We’re not standing here revisiting history,” he continued. “We have a plan.”
The Silver Wolf’s expression didn’t change, but there was something in her eyes now that hadn’t been there before.
