"Our pretend behavior?" Trust wasn't exactly something that had a big place in the world he was from either. Or maybe it was more that he had misplaced his trust in the wrong people not once, but twice.

That mistake had lead to the deaths of people he cared about. People he'd loved. He wasn't going to make the same mistake here. Root had proven herself aligned with the others so far, but her warning wasn't entirely lost on him.

He pushes himself to his feet. "You can trust us, Root. You don't have to pretend all the time."