KAEL
I’d been a fool. Worse than that. The way I treated her had been cruel, and there was no excuse for it. Nothing I did now would ever fully balance that out.
Not until I got off this damn peak and showed her, with actions, that I was serious about trying. About staying. About doing the work.
We’d co-parent, or whatever people called it. We’d figure out the shape of it. Trust would have to be earned, slow and painful, and that was on me.
“Anything I should know about dealing with Calder once Thane is dead?” I asked.
Torin lifted one brow. “Like whether he’ll kill you and then drag your body through the High Wilds as a warning?”
Aria stiffened beside me. The reaction was instant. Still, the body stayed loose. That outcome was always on the table, no matter where I stood. “Yes,”
