Mark froze. Max turned his head.
Kael stood in the doorway, arms crossed, shoulders stiff. His eyes locked on Mark like flame to dry grass. The heat there wasn't from his Vein.
"Don't think this story earns you sympathy,"
His voice didn't rise. It didn't need to.
"Don't think it justifies anything."
Max moved, one step closer.
"Kael—"
But Kael didn't look away.
"What? Don't tell me you're siding with them now. Don't tell me you think feeding kids to that thing was a choice worth making."
Behind him, another shadow slipped through the doorway. Ash.
He didn't say a word. He didn't have to.
His eyes moved across the room—past Mark, past Max, past Kael. They landed on the settlers. On their sunken faces. Their empty stares. Not one of them looked surprised. Not one of them denied it.
They didn't even flinch.
Ash stood still.
And the silence around him said more than any of them ever could.
