He held my gaze.
“That’s why I won’t let you run to her unprepared. Because if Marr loses control of Echo, the first thing he’ll do is point her at you.”
My breath stalled.
“She wouldn’t—”
“Hope,” he said gently, “is not a strategy.”
I stood up, pacing back and forth. “So, you expect me to what? Stay there in his grasp, used for God knows what? I’ve been where she is, Elliot. I know what it’s like to be prodded, poked and experimented on. To be tortured in the name of science. I can’t let anyone go through that. I won’t.”
“I’m not saying no,” Elliot said. “But I could authorise recon. An information hunt.”
He paused.
“It won’t be easy. And I’d need something from you in return — something I can justify to my people.”
My stomach dropped.
“What kind of thing?” I asked softly.
Elliot stood, clasping his hands behind his back. He sighed, like a man accepting a cost he’d already decided to pay.
“In our cells, we hold more than Gideon,” he said. “We have soldiers of the Light — captured in the last raid. They tried to kill our people.”
I swallowed.
“Equinox won’t negotiate for their lives,” he continued. “Not unless we give them a reason.”
His eyes lifted to mine.
“A reason stronger than pride.”
Cold spread through me. My hands trembled.
“No,” I whispered, shaking my head. “No.”
“It’s all I can think of, Seph,” Elliot said. “Use your ability. Let them see what you are.”
His voice stayed measured. Reasonable.
“Do that, and I promise you this — when the time comes, you’ll have a loyal army at your back.”
Tears burned behind my eyes. “You want me to torture them?”
His jaw tightened. Just once.
“I don’t want this. But if fear prevents a war, I will bear that cost.”
“But you won’t, Elliot.” I whispered.
“Won’t what?”
“Bear the cost. I will.”
I took a step back, but his face was impassive. For a moment I glimpsed his aura.
It was clear. White. Unmarred.
