The argument erupted at dawn.
Lena had tried to hold it together—she really had. But after three days of planning, of preparing, of watching Kael and Caspian circle each other like wary predators, something inside her snapped.
"You're doing it again," she said, her voice sharp. "Both of you."
Kael looked up from the map he'd been studying. "Doing what?"
"Circling. Glaring. Acting like you're still enemies instead of—" She gestured vaguely. "Whatever you are now."
Caspian's jaw tightened. "We're not acting like anything."
"No? Then why have you barely spoken to each other in three days? Why does every conversation feel like a negotiation?" Lena's eyes blazed. "We're about to go to war. Together. And you two can't even look at each other without—"
"Without what?" Kael's voice rose. "W
