Page 132 of Salt Between the Wolves

"You ask strange things."

"I've been told that."

"I can see why."

That earned the faintest hint of amusement from him.

Leander simply waited, neither pushing nor filling the silence, but allowing it to stretch naturally, like a fisherman waiting for a line to tighten.

Eventually Eira looked away toward the stable doors and the pale winter morning beyond them.

"I don't know."

The answer felt incomplete, and that was probably why she continued.

"I never really thought about it."

"Then think about it now."

There was no pressure in his voice, no command, only a suggestion, which somehow made it far more difficult to dismiss.

Eira remained quiet for a long time, long enough that someone else might have assumed the conversation had ended.

Leander did not.

Finally, she said,

"Choice."

The word surprised her almost as much as it seemed to surprise him, though perhaps it had not surprised him at all.

"You had choices."

"No."

A small smile touched her lips.

"I had options."

He glanced toward her.

"There's a difference."

That immediately caught her attention.

"What difference?"

Leander leaned one shoulder against the stall.

"The illusion that you're choosing something is not the same as actually choosing it."

For the first time, his voice carried something heavier beneath it—not emotion, but experience.

"You can be offered ten roads."

His gaze drifted toward the stable doors.

"If nine of them lead off a cliff, you were only ever given one."