Chapter Fifteen — *Defecting*
Rhen Varda was not what Mara expected.
She did not know exactly what she had expected. Someone harder maybe. Someone with the rough edges of a man who had spent years outside Ironveil's polished walls.
He was not rough.
He was steady. Measured. The kind of man who had seen enough to stop being impressed by most things.
He looked at Mara for a long moment when they stepped through the door.
Then he said: "You are the Hollow girl."
"I am Mara Voss," she said.
Something moved in his expression. Respect maybe. The small kind that meant something precisely because it was not performed.
"Rhen Varda," he said. "My scouts said you were the smart one."
"Your scouts were eating sandwiches in a tunnel," she said.
Rhen looked at the two men behind her.
The tal
