Page 164 of Rookie Rules

Priya checked the ice pack. "Pain level?"

"Six."

"Actual number."

"Seven."

She nodded as if honesty were a clinical improvement.

The dressing-room door opened farther. Luca's voice carried down the corridor.

"We do not replace him," he said. "We protect the middle and make the next read."

No performance. No claim to Rowan's authority. A problem named clearly enough for other men to solve together.

Rowan closed his eyes.

There was nothing he could do from the table. No route to call, no pain to hide successfully, no rule that could return him to the ice.

The third period would begin without his control.

For the first time, trust was not a principle Rowan could teach Luca.

It was the only thing Rowan had left.

Chapter 26: The Pass

Rowan's empty stall remained between periods.

His gloves lay on the shelf. His helmet sat beneath them with the chin strap open. Someone had placed his stick against the wall, separated from the active rack as if equipment could understand absence.

Luca looked once and made himself look away.

Vale drew three lines across the tactics board. The second-line center would move up between Finn and Luca. Jace would double-shift where needed. Nolan and Mateo would manage the defensive matchups.

"We do not replace him," Luca said before he knew the room had gone quiet. "We protect the middle and make the next read."

Vale studied him.

Luca waited to be told the captaincy was not his to imitate.

"Correct," Vale said. He tapped the board. "Mercer stabilizes the entry. Bennett attacks the space they give him. Nobody tries to become nineteen by himself."

He shifted the magnets. The opponent had begun using a high forward to seal Luca's wall, expecting Rowan to provide the low escape.

"Without Hale, the first support comes from our weak-side defenseman," Vale continued. "If that lane closes, live for the next possession. No east-west hope plays through three sticks."

The replacement center asked whether Vale wanted him below the goal line on retrievals.

"Only if Finn is high. Talk before the puck arrives."

Luca pictured the routes. None asked him to imitate Rowan. They asked him to recognize what Rowan had done, divide the work, and trust someone else with a piece of it.

Finn leaned toward Luca. "Good speech. Terrible timing. I was about to say something historic."

"You can still say it."

"Moment passed."