What He Should Have Said
The room they gave us was too close to everything.
I could still hear movement outside the door, voices low and controlled, the Dominion pretending this was contained when everyone knew it wasn’t. It felt like being handed privacy that didn’t really exist, like they expected something important to happen but didn’t want to admit they were waiting for it.
I stayed near the wall instead of taking a seat. If he wanted this conversation, he could stand through it.
Kallen didn’t comment on that. He stepped fully into the room, the door shutting behind him with a quiet click, and for a moment he just looked at me like he was taking inventory of something he already recognized.
That irritated me more than it should have.
“You’ve got five minutes,” I said. “Don’t wa
