"Let him go," Gad said, stepping forward before anyone could stop him. "Now."
‘He was never in danger,’ the shape said, its edges flickering unsteady in the fading light. ‘I needed you to come. This was the only way I knew that worked.’
"Using a child," Doran said, disgust plain in his voice despite the caution radiating off him. "That's not the act of something innocent."
‘I know how it looks,’ the shape said, something almost like grief threading through its voice. ‘I have been alone so long I have forgotten gentler ways of asking for help. I am sorry for his fear. I did not hurt him.’
"Prove it," Mira said. "Release him. Now, before we take another step closer."
The shape seemed to consider this, its flickering form stilling for a long moment before Toran's body straightened, blink
