Alaric pushed Cosmos as hard as he could on the way back to the Core, even though it wasn't necessary with the way Rowan's woods delivered them to the main road almost as soon as the horse's hooves touched the trail.
If he slowed down, he would have to talk to Lysander. And he really wasn't in the mood to talk.
At least not to anyone who wasn't Loma or Rowan, and neither was an option right now, for reasons beyond his control.
In fact, Alaric had never felt so out of control, which made it very difficult to be the person the Order and all of reality needed him to be until they were on the other side of this mess.
Once they were on the other side, though, Alaric was going to focus on being the person he needed to be for once in his life. A father, a husband, a brother, a friend.
Someone else could take the reins, so he could just take a damned break.
