Those seventy-two hours carved a deep mark on her bones. Each moment dragged like stone across cracked earth. Time stretched thin, brittle under the weight of waiting.
It wasn't the fighting. Nor the risk. Not even the scheming behind closed doors. What really did it was how far apart everything became.
Torres having pledged support, Sage and Zion stayed behind at the Confederation base, sorting supply routes while folding Torres's fighters into their plans. Elsewhere on the continent, Kieran plus Dorian moved carefully through the shifting loyalties of the Coastal Pack. Meanwhile, Rhett stepped into lands where memories of Sage's mother and father still ran deep.
