Isla's eyes carried genuine conflict, the same impossible calculation Mercer felt churning in his own chest. Finally, she spoke, her voice carrying careful, difficult resolve.
"She's right that distance hasn't protected her," Isla said quietly. "And I think, Mercer, we've learned throughout everything we've faced that hiding people we love from difficult truth rarely serves them well, regardless of how desperately we wish to protect them from genuine danger."
"She's fourteen," Mercer said, though his protest carried less conviction than he intended.
"I was handling council business at fourteen, learning my father's trade routes, understanding exactly what kind of man Hale truly represented." Elena's voice carried genuine steadiness now, her earlier fear settling into something closer to
