Page 267 of Salt Between the Wolves

"Where is she?"

The question was direct, without pretense or diplomacy—exactly what Soren expected.

"I don't know."

Vargan studied him for several seconds, searching for deception and finding none, because there was none.

The older man looked away first.

"Then your people have become less competent than I believed."

"They are not searching for her."

That finally earned a reaction—small, but real—as Vargan's gaze sharpened.

"Why?"

Because she left, because she chose, because forcing her return would destroy whatever remained between them—but none of those answers belonged here.

"Because she is not a prisoner."

Something hard entered the older man's expression, not anger but conviction, which was worse.

"She is my daughter."

The words carried the weight of law, of blood, of decades, of a world that had never once questioned his authority.

Soren met his gaze.

"And she is not a child."

The mountains seemed to grow quieter, and behind them both armies remained perfectly still, watching, listening, waiting.

Vargan's face revealed nothing, but something dangerous moved beneath the surface.

"You speak as though choice exists independent of duty."

Soren almost laughed, only because he suddenly understood the impossible distance between them—not mountains, not armies, not generations, but something far simpler.

Vargan genuinely believed duty came first, every time, for everyone, including Eira—especially Eira.

"I do."

Vargan's eyes narrowed.

"And where has that philosophy brought us?"

The question lingered between them as snow drifted through the air and neither looked away.

Then the older man said quietly:

"It brought us here."

And Soren saw it—not ambition, not cruelty, but fear, buried deeply enough that most people would never recognize it, yet undeniably present.

Vargan was afraid—not of war, not of Ironfang, not of defeat, but of losing control, of losing the daughter he had spent years shaping into something he understood and now no longer did.

The realization changed nothing, but it explained much.