But Zarrek was right.
Zarrek wasalwaysright.
“I saw you with her when she was dying, Resh. Half-clothed, soaked, cradling her like she was your last breath. Don’t insult me by pretending that wasn’t real.”
“I’ve known her a few months,” Resh rasped. Still trying to push back. Still trying to find some loophole in the logic of it all.
Zarrek made a short, bitter sound. “It didn’t take you a few months,” he said, his voice low. Solemn. “You were done the moment she fell into your arms from that ice.”
Resh turned toward the firelight, its glow reflecting in the taut lines of his face.
“Zar,” he said. His voice was steady, lethal. “If you see her evenreachingfor that power again…you stop her. Am I clear?”
Zarrek didn’t answer right away.
The older warrior’s gaze settled on his Commander. Zarrek exhaled slowly, then replied, voice like granite cracking.
“And if she fights back?”
Resh didn’t hesitate. His hands curled into fists at his sides.
“Bruised pride is better than death,” he ground out.
Zarrek’s eyes narrowed. He scanned Kailorien’s face, searching for something—weakness, uncertainty, perhaps.
After a long beat, Zarrek gave a single nod. Short. Final.
“Then I’ll do what needs to be done.”
His tone carried no ceremony. No comfort.
Just the unspoken bond between two men who’d both bled in the dirt and knew what it meant to lose something vital.
Resh walked the perimeter until the last patrols cycled through. His boots were soaked. His mood was worse. He approached his tent in silence, only to pause when the flap rustled.
Thessia stepped out. Her braids were unbound, loose and curling over her shoulders, and the firelight caught the hard glint in her eyes. Without a word, she brushed past him, shoulder clipping his as she passed. Hard.
Resh caught her wrist. “How is she?”
Thessia didn’t turn. Her voice was cold as iron left out in frost. “Well enough, no thanks to you.”
His grip loosened. “I’m protecting her.”
“No. You’re protectingyourself.”
That stopped him. She turned then, face shadowed but voice burning.
“She doesn’t need your shields, Shadeslayer. She needsyou.The man who held her when she was bleeding out. The man who whispered in her ear when she was fading.”
His jaw worked. “I’m doing what’s best.”
“The only one who believes that,” she said, stepping closer, “isyou.”
Silence stretched between them like a drawn blade.
Thessia tilted her head, voice dropping.
“You fight everyone. You fighteverything.But for once in your long, unnatural life…” Her gaze raked him, full of fury and something sharper underneath. “You need to learn what it means to surrender.”
