It melts something inside him, as if he stood on solid ground and now he stands on quicksand. Or as if that oil he was talking about got under his feet, and he slipped.

He looks away to compose himself before he replies. "I don't regret involving myself in the mission. Too much was on the line. I had a duty to the team"—and its leader, he does not say—"to report any factor that might have endangered us.

"But what I do regret is the situation I placed you in." The words fight to stay inside him, barbed and burred. "Your situation was difficult enough. I had to choose between the mission and"—again, Raven watches him from the back of his head—"our friendship."

Well. There it is. He said it.