"Not happening."
Dominic turned, sharp. "What?"
Kael's tone didn't shift. "He just awakened in the Cradle. You want to toss him through a teleportation gate with his core still in flux?"
"It'll hold," Dominic said, though there was a note of tension beneath the certainty.
Kael raised a brow. "That's a gamble. And you don't strike me as the gambling type."
They stared at each other for a beat, neither flinching.
Then Kael gestured toward the far compound, where a low structure sat half-embedded into the slope—a recessed bunker with faint gold lighting at its edges.
"There are accommodations," he said. "You're staying. At least until his stabilizers settle."
Dominic didn't answer immediately.
His gaze shifted—not to Kael, but to Damien.
And Damien met it head-on.
No smirk. No bravado. Just clarity. He gave a single nod.
"…Fine," he said. "We rest."
