Martin looked away again, but the words stayed with him.
A few minutes earlier, he had been ready to call Alexandra's proposal a joke and walk off. The idea still sounded insane, but she had spent hours thinking about the same fears that kept him frozen.
That didn't make it good. It only made it harder to dismiss.
"You want to start in the game," Martin said.
"Yes."
"That's still real to us."
"I know. That's why I'm suggesting we begin here instead of making promises we don't understand in the real world."
Alexandra gestured toward the academy.
"We already spend time together here. We fight beside one another, trust each other with monsters, and discover things about ourselves we might never have learned outside."
"Dying here isn't permanent."
"Neither is making an ass of yourself."
"You underestimate my ability to remember embarrassment."
"I'm painfully aware of it."
Martin clicked his tongue.
