The word negotiate landed in the room like something dropped from a height.
Aria felt Kael go still behind her — not the stillness of surprise, he was past surprise, but the particular quality of stillness that meant he was recalculating. She felt Seren straighten near the door without looking. The room had been carefully controlled thirty seconds ago and now it was something else entirely — a space where the balance of information had just shifted and everyone present was deciding what that meant for them.
Aria kept her eyes on Vael and kept her voice level.
"You came here with a letter from my mother," she said. "You let me believe she was dead. You watched me read it. And now you're telling me her location is a negotiation."
"I let you believe what the letter implied," Vael said. "I
