NEVA POV
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Hew reached the gate before Pell did.
He came on foot, which I understood, the moment I saw him, as its own kind of statement — a man who had nothing left to threaten with, choosing the most vulnerable possible approach because every other option had already closed behind him.
Silo had him stopped at the perimeter, two of Bekah's people flanking, and Hew stood there in the cold morning light looking smaller than I remembered him — the careful, unremarkable doctor who'd spent four months delivering clinical updates in a voice that never gave anything away, now visibly, completely out of moves.
"I'm not here to hurt anyone." It came before anyone asked. "I came because I needed to see if you survived it. That's the only reason."
"You could have asked. Instead of watching f
