Eve shot Lionel a look of mild gratitude.
Jaden held up his hands in surrender. “Quiet. I can do that.”
A few seconds of silence. “…Probably.”
Eve groaned softly.
But Lionel’s lips twitched slightly, before another emotion smoothed his face.
“You seem different,” Lionel said quietly. “You’re mimicking Nate more than yourself lately.”
Jaden stiffened, letting a few seconds pass before he sighed with a faint smile. “You noticed, huh?”
“Hard not to,” Eve clipped, crossing her arms.
“Well,” Jaden scratched his chin awkwardly. “He always seems so carefree and happy even after almost dying… I guess I needed some of that confidence after…” He stopped, the pause increasing the pressure heavily. “IkilledCaleb.”
“Nate isn’t confident, he’s cocky,” Eve muttered, smoothly trying to ignore the heavy conversation.
“Yes, you killed Caleb,” Lionel said blankly, making Eve shift uncomfortably. “Now you’ve got to live with it, find a way to make up for it… You can’t change the past, but you can decide your future.”
A shiver went through my body. His words echoed louder to me than I cared to admit. He was giving Jaden advice, only because Lionel himself knew the pain of regret.
The second watch was Ashley, Nate, and Malakai.
Ashley woke first, hand instinctively reaching for a knife that wasn’t actually in danger of slipping from her grasp.
Nate rubbed his eyes, taking a moment to remember where he was.
Why was I still not sleeping?
“You two keep watch,” Malakai said, leaving no space for argument. “I’m taking a loop around. If I’m not back in ten, assume I found something worth punching.”
When he turned, I shut my eyes again, pulse racing because I knew he often saw through my plays.
I heard his footsteps heading out into the dark, just far enough that the dust swallowed him whole.
Silence settled, awkward and huge, making me peek to see if they had fallen asleep again.
Ashley refused to look at Nate at first.
“You keep almost dying,” she muttered, arms tightening around herself. “Stop doing that.”
“That’s my bad, really,” Nate said with a crooked, exhausted smile. “I’ll try to schedule my next near-death better.”
Ashley’s breath caught, a sharp, shaky inhale.
“I—” She shut her mouth, thought it through, and started again. “I didn’t mean to stabyou. I knew it wasn’t right the moment the blade went in, but then it was too late—”
“It’s fine,” he said gently.
“It’s not.” Her voice cracked on the last word. “I can’t… lose anyone else.”
Nate stilled, his expression softening more than she was ready for.
“Hey,” he murmured. “I’m not going anywhere.”
“You can’t promise that.”
