The clearing seemed to tighten around us after I spoke, not physically but in the way silence gathers weight when something important has just been said. The man did not react immediately. He simply watched me, his silver eyes steady, measuring, as if my answer had confirmed something rather than surprised him.
Nyx shifted slightly at my side, her stance angled just enough to intercept if needed, though she had already understood what I had. This was not a normal encounter. Not an ambush. Not a coincidence.
Umbra hovered just behind me, quieter than before, but the bond carried a faint pulse of tension now, like a low hum beneath still water.
Recognition had not faded.
If anything, it had sharpened.
The man tilted his head slightly, studying me in a way that felt uncomfortably familiar.
"You say that like you think you have a choice," he said.
"I always have a choice," I replied.
"That is what you tell yourself."
His tone was not mocking.
That made it worse.
