CHAPTER 4Bad idea, Tylen. Bad, bad, bad idea.
But listening to the voice in the back of my head, the one that sounded like Dourack on a good day, my father and Dourack on a bad one, was not something I excelled at. Because I took the hand Dek offered to help me to my feet with barely a hesitation. And I made it up without a stumble.
See? Not a bad idea.
Not letting go once I was upright…that was a bad idea.
“You don’t have to do this if you’re not ready,” I said. His fingers folded over my hand, his grip not necessarily tight, but the tremors running through him still reverberated into me. He was putting on a brave face, but the reality of stepping outside the cage terrified him. “I’m fine in here.”
“I am not.”
No matter what he claimed, the last thing I would do was drag him out. I
