“You’re right about one thing,” I said. “The Council can’t be allowed to keep doing this. But if the only way you know how to fight them is to burn everything in your path—including me—then you’re not offering a choice.”
Elliot’s voice hardened. “Change has never come without cost.”
“That’s true,” I said. “But you want to decide who pays it.”
The wind swept across the ridge, hot and dry. I felt Sy’s presence at my back, solid as stone.
“I won’t help you steal power,” I said. “And I won’t let you turn me into a justification for war.”
Kieran exhaled sharply. “Seph—”
I held up a hand. He stopped.
“But” I added, and Elliot’s attention snapped back to me. “I will help those children.”
His eyes narrowed. “How?”
“I don’t know yet,” I admitted. “But I’ll find a way that doesn’t require becoming a monster first.”
For the first time since we’d landed, Elliot looked uncertain.
“That may not be enough,” he said.
I met his gaze without flinching. “Then you’ll have to decide what kind of man you’re willing to be.”
Silence fell between us—thick, uncomfortable, unresolved.
Sy leaned down slightly, his voice meant only for me.
“You choose the path,” he murmured. “I will walk it with you.”
I closed my eyes for a heartbeat. Then I turned back toward the helicopter.
“Take me home,” I said. “If you still want my help, you can start by respecting that.”
I didn’t wait to see if Elliot agreed.
Chapter 5
Seph
Walking the compound late that night, I felt the quiet in my bones. Kieran and Elliot wouldn’t speak to me when we landed. Elliot didn’t even look at me.
Kieran looked like he wanted to pull me away. To shake me. Until Sy stepped in front of me and forced him back.
And now Sy was out hunting, and I was alone.
Normally Ash would have been with me, but when I got back to my room, I found him sprawled on the bed, mouth open, covered in dirt. They must have worked him hard today. Everyone here seemed to have a job.
And now I had turned down the only thing they wanted me to do, I wondered what mine would be.
Or whether they wanted me here at all.
I wandered outside and stood on the balcony that overlooked the valley. In the midnight air, it was pitch black.
I thought of Echo.
I felt her absence like she had been my torch in the long black. And now she was gone with Marr, to God knows where.
