"You crossed after him with an incomplete core."
"Yes."
"You tore your channels open."
Arik raised one elegant, long finger.
"Technically, I never had channels. A complication of being reborn with a fractured soul, I suppose."
Severin stared at him.
Mezos looked away, though not quickly enough to hide the faint movement at the corner of his mouth.
From the bed, Liam said, eyes still closed, "He says that as though it makes the situation better."
"It makes the accusation inaccurate," Arik replied.
"You crossed a collapsing Gate without ether channels," Severin said slowly.
"Yes, but I never had them, so the distinction matters."
Severin's watery jade eyes narrowed.
"That distinction does not improve your chances of survival."
"It improved Liam's."
For a moment, Severin had no answer.
Then he looked toward Mezos. "Has he always been like this?"
Mezos considered the question.
"Worse, usually."
Arik raised a dark brow. "You are both becoming disrespectful."
