Rhydian's POV
I've faced down rival Alphas, armed incursions, council members who wanted my seat before I'd earned the right to hold it. None of it prepared me for the particular helplessness of watching someone's trust collapse in real time, knowing every word I say next might make it worse instead of better.
I keep thinking, absurdly, of my father's voice from twenty years ago, telling me some debts aren't yours to carry. I understand now, watching her walk away from me, that he was wrong about that, or at least incomplete. Some debts choose whether you're ready to carry them or not, and the only real decision left is whether you carry them honestly.
I watch her face change in real time, the hurt sliding into something colder, harder, a wall going up brick by brick right in front of m
