Cole's voice, urgent and breathless, pulled us both from sleep before dawn had fully broken, and I felt Ronan tense instantly beside me even before the words registered fully.
You need to hear this, Cole said, standing at a respectful distance from the temple's inner chamber, though his expression carried none of the awkwardness the situation might otherwise have warranted. I finally traced the assault back to its source.
We dressed quickly and emerged to find the small camp already stirring, Silas and Priya both present, expressions grave as Cole laid out what he had discovered through the long night's investigation.
It wasn't a separate force, Cole said. Not Callahan's people acting independently. It was Kestrel's old faction, remnants of members loyal to him specifically rather than
