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Tommick’s face pinched, but he didn’t cry. Orzen ground his teeth. It was bait. He forced himself not to take it. Tommick’s stomach rumbled and he glanced toward Orzen, but all that remained in his pack was a damp hunk of bread. He shook his head at the boy.

“Mister Silas,” Tommick said carefully, shuffling toward him. “I know you’ve got food. You haven’t eaten since we got here. You must’ve saved some.” He reached for Silas’s pack.

Silas’s hand snapped out. “Don’t touch what isn’t yours.”

He yanked the bag away. Tommick flinched at the sudden grab, stumbling back a step. The movement was too fast and he knocked the bag to the ground. The flap tore open, scattering a few of Silas’s supplies across the dirt.

Something small and glimmering tumbled free, green and gold ivy catching the sunlight.

“Oh! A gloamguise.” Tommick blinked. “Why’d you bring that with you? Mine got squished when those monsters came.”

“None of your concern.” Silas snatched it up, shoving it into the bag. His eyes flashed. “I’m busy. You can go bother someone else if you’re bored.”

“Enough,” Orzen said, rising.

Silas’s eyes flicked to Orzen. “Teaching chivalry now, are we? Didn’t think lessons like that came from a mercenary.”

“He’s a knight,” Tommick yelped incredulously. “And he’s better than you.”

Silas’s gaze snapped to the boy, his expression curdling.

“Child, you can barely lift a stick,” he said, voice flat. “If anything out here gets hold of you, it’ll tear you clean in half before help reaches you.”

Orzen’s restraint broke. He crossed the clearing in two strides and caught Silas’s wrist mid-motion, wrenching it back before the man could react.

“What did you just say?” Orzen’s voice dropped low enough to make the air feel heavy.

“Violence.” Silas clicked his tongue. “Always your first answer. What would Wren think?”

“If I hear you talk to him like that one more time,” he said, leaning close enough to smell Silas’s breath—hot and sour, “those words will be your last. Do you understand me?”

“Brutes don’t scare me.” Silas didn’t flinch. “I’m glad he can see you for what you are.”

Tommick stood slightly behind Orzen, face hardened, trembling but trying to appear brave. Orzen’s jaw clenched, eyes flashing toward Silas.

“Apologize.”

The silence stretched—only the rasp of breath between them. Orzen lifted him by the collar until his boots barely scraped the dirt. Silas’s smirk only widened, eyes glistening with malice. Then his focus shifted somewhere over Orzen’s shoulder, the smug veneer cracking. His posture went taut, the gleam in his eyes growing wary, as if suddenly afraid of Orzen’s anger.

Hoof beats pounded behind him, quick against the dirt.

Wren’s gaze cut toward them, lingering on Orzen as he gripped Silas. The flash of smugness in his expression made Orzen want to press harder—to keep squeezing until that mask shattered and the real arrogance spilled out where she could see it. Instead, Orzen dropped him, shoving him away. Silas stumbled, then flung himself down harder than the push demanded.

“Orzen!” Wren’s voice cracked through the clearing. “What is going on? Gods, we’ve barely been gone an hour!”

Tommick bolted past, tears streaking his face as he reached for his mother. Branwynn caught him up, eyes flashing toward Orzen like the fault was his.

“Argument was about the boy,” Garin said, breaking the tension before it could sharpen further. “Silas said something that upset him. Orzen didn’t take too kindly.”

“I was about to apologize when he grabbed me.” Silas rose without help, dusting himself off with deliberate calm. “Didn’t realize the boy was so thin-skinned.”

“He’s a child,” Wren snapped. Her glare swung between them. “You’re both grown men. If you want to keep traveling with us, start acting like it.”

“You’re right.” Silas’s tone shifted, smooth as polished glass, and Orzen’s jaw clenched until it ached. “Must be the heat getting to me.” He glanced at Orzen with a smile that wasn’t a smile—thin, polite, all teeth. “We both need to cool off to keep the peace.”

Orzen threw up his hands in frustration.

“Funny how that changes now that she’s here.”