The false reports went out on day eleven.
Cord handled them with surgical precision. Perrin and Setch wrote what they were told under the belief that cooperation might earn leniency, not knowing that every word was a fiction constructed to give Valdris exactly what Silverfang needed him to believe. Stage Two. Slow progress. Weeks from real development.
Damien reviewed every word before it went.
Mira was in the war room with him late on day eleven, working through tactical maps, learning Silverfang's approach routes and defensive positions the way you learned a language by immersion. She was getting good at it faster than she expected, which no longer surprised her.
Damien was reviewing the latest report draft when she caught something.
"This line," she said, pointing. "It's too specif
