The cost does not arrive as loss.
It arrives as choice.
⸻
The day begins like any other.
The bond hums.
The land breathes.
The wolves hold.
And then Jason freezes mid-step, eyes snapping to the lattice as color drains from his face.
“No,” he whispers. “No, no—this isn’t right.”
Zane is beside him instantly.
“What.”
Jason doesn’t answer at first. His hands hover over the arrays, afraid to touch.
“It’s not a case,” he says finally.
“It’s… a trade.”
⸻
The signal spreads fast.
Not localized.
Not contained.
Global.
A destabilization wave ripples outward from the far eastern territories—regions still fragile from Hunger, still dependent on the covenant’s slow healing.
The counterweight strains.
The bond tightens painfully.
Jason gasps.
“If this collapses, millions starve a
