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Lightened. The silence between them pulsed with emotion. Memory.

Seren stepped closer. "You thought you could protect me by keeping me in the dark?"

"I thought I was giving you a choice," he said." I couldn't take your choice away again. Not again."

She shook her head, eyes shimmering with unshed tears. "No. You were trying to delay the fallout. The moment I learned what was happening, you knew I'd never let you go alone."

He swallowed hard. "You've built something here. You've found peace. I didn't want to risk it."

"You are risking it," she whispered. "By going without me. By keeping the truth from me."

He stepped forward, slowly, like she was a wild creature he didn't want to startle.

"You don't owe us anything," he said. "But the land—Seren, it responds to you. The oracle said it grieves. "

Her hand trembled like she was on the cusp of a great discovery, but she stilled it with a breath.

"You don't have to come," he added. "But you are right. You deserved the truth."

Then the tribelink buzzed—

You shouldn't have said all that in front of her.You had no right. You know how dangerous things are back home.What if they find her? What if they suspect...

She was already in it -Veyr cut in.She's not a child anymore, Hagan. She deserved the truth.

You just dropped everything on her. It’s not her burden to carry!

She is not the same as she was before. She isn't. Look at her. She survived on her own. Built a life. Found her strength. You don't get to wrap her in wool just because you still see her as breakable.

She's mine. And if they use her—if they twist what's left of our magic, or worse—We don't even know who is doing this. How can I risk her? My heart?

Then let her decide if it's worth the risk. You keep speaking like she belongs to you. But she's not yours to protect anymore. She chose this. You think she's not already making her choice.

Hagan was silent, breathing hard through the link.

Then—Seren drawled. "I can hear you, you know."

Both men snapped their attention to her.

"The tribelink." Her eyes flicked between the two men. "Just like... vibrations. Faint. But there. I hear things when I let myself. Half-thoughts. Emotions. Parts of conversation, mostly."

Hagan looked stricken.

Veyr was more cautious. "How much do you hear?"

Seren's expression turned dry. "Enough. Especially from you. Your head’s like a basement library full of sharp objects and smothered feelings."

"I'm consistent," Veyr muttered.

Seren tilted her head towards Hagan. "And then there's the time you thought about gutting a certain warlock during the gallery opening—twice."

Hagan didn't even look guilty. "That was justified."

She rolled her eyes. "You both need mental locks."

There was a pause. Then Veyr asked, a little too casually, "Can you read me right now?"

Seren gave him a long, slow look and a wicked little smile. "Most of the time. It's very dark in there. Angry thoughts. Silent brooding. A disturbing amount of strategy diagrams involving knives...And Ana?"