MINE IN EVERY LIFETIME
Chapter Thirty One — Cassian
Elder Cassian was nothing like Vasden.
Where Vasden was thin and quiet and faded Cassian was everything the opposite of that. Broad. Loud in the way of someone who had learned that taking up space was the same as having power. A face that smiled easily and meant none of it.
He was sitting at Rhen's table when they came back through the compound gate with Vasden's drive in Mara's hand and the morning light behind them.
He looked up.
He looked at Mara specifically.
Then at the drive in her hand.
Something moved across his face very fast.
Gone before she could fully read it.
But she had seen it.
"Vasden," he said pleasantly. "He gave you something."
"Yes," Mara said.
"What did it cost him."
"Nothing," she said. "He gave it free
