The silence didn’t hold forever. It cracked. And it cracked, when Ashar spoke. Not the sharp, single-word commands they were used to. Not the silent glances, the weighted stares. Words. Full. Measured. Heavy. When he turned from where Mae lay, his crystalline gaze pulled from her for the first time, they all felt it. A shift. A rift closing, or maybe opening wider.
“It started at the auction.” His voice was lower than expected. Not soft, no, never soft, but raw. Strained at the edges like a machine running too hot, too fast. Kaine blinked. “The hell you mean?” Ashar’s arms folded slowly, his shoulders squaring as if bracing for something heavier than anyone could see. “The moment they dragged her onto the platform, I felt it. I didn’t understand it then. But I felt it.” He glanced back to
