“I’ll do it.” Veskor had straightened fully now, the earlier tension in his posture replaced with something else entirely. Not confidence, not quite, but a certainty.
“I’ll do it,” he repeated. “You are right. I do not belong here. If someone is to die, it makes sense it should be me.” He shot a glance at Nerissa. “It’s only fair.”
Something twisted sharply in my chest. He said it so easily. It was as though his death had already been agreed upon by everyone present—including himself.
There was no hesitation in him.
No visible fear.
“I don’t care about the risk,” he added, his gaze flicking briefly toward Canavar before returning to Nerissa. “Just tell me where to stand.”
Canavar swore under his breath. Nasi’s expression tightened, his attention sharpening as if reassessing Veskor entirely. Benedict shifted slightly in front of Wren, instinctively placing himself between her and the unfolding decision.
Wren shook her head. “We don’t even know if?—”
The ground split beneath us with a violent crack. The clearing lurched, several drakens losing their footing entirely as the shockwave rippled outward. The sound ofstone grinding against itself filled the air, followed by a deep, resonant rumble that seemed to originate from the center of the island.
Wren cried out, almost crumpling to her knees. Her distress call was a high keen that made every draken twitch. Her grip on Benedict’s arm tightened abruptly, her other hand pressing harder against her stomach as her knees buckled.
I moved instinctively, reaching her just as she began to fold.
For one terrible moment, all I could think about was failing her again.
“Wren,” Benedict said sharply, catching her other side.
Her breath came in uneven pulls now, her focus fractured in a way that had nothing to do with the mountain.
“This isn’t—” she started, then stopped, her expression tightening with sudden realization.
I recognized it a moment later. Not through experience, but observation, patterns, and timing. This was not a reaction to the tremors.
“This is areally bad time,” she whispered, though her tone suggested she already knew that was no longer relevant.
Another contraction hit her—there was no other word for it—and she gasped, her body tensing fully this time.
Benedict’s expression shifted instantly, all attention narrowing to her.
“No,” he said under his breath. “Not now.”
Nerissa exhaled once, sharply.
“Well,” she said, her voice cutting cleanly through the chaos, “that answers the timing.”
There was no time left to debate.
No space for careful planning.
I straightened, the weight of the situation settling into something clear and unavoidable.
“All right,” Benedict said, his voice steadier than I felt. “Then we proceed immediately.”
My pulse hammered hard enough to hurt. Every outcome branching through my mind ended in risk, blood, or loss. There was no safe solution left.
My gaze moved to Veskor. “You take the central point.”
He nodded once.
No hesitation.
