Later that night, Aria told Kael what she had decided.
He listened the way he always listened, without interrupting, his silver eyes steady on her face as she explained Vael's letter, the children, the quiet aid she meant to send south without Damon ever learning her hand was in it.
When she finished, he was quiet for a moment.
"You are kinder than I would have been," he said.
"Is that a criticism?"
"No." He reached for her hand. "It is the thing I love most about you, and the thing that frightens me a little, all at once. You have more reason than almost anyone alive to let a pack burn for what it did to you. And instead you are going to feed their children in secret and ask for nothing, not even their knowing."
"Does it frighten you."
"A little. Mercy that big is its own kind of v
