Twenty-Four
Heron was still asleep, snoring softly beside her, when voices woke Grace. She slipped quietly from the bed, shuffling forward in the dark and opened the bedroom door.
“I understand that!” a man hissed. “But if we don’t tell her immediately, Alabaster will go public. He’s wanted to from the start! It’s the only way he can run her out of the city, which is what he wants to do, I tell you!”
On the landing, Grace saw three figures below. Arjun, in a fresh shirt, his long hair pulled back in a low ponytail. Lore with bags under his eyes thick enough to rival Heron’s. And that was…
It took a minute for the name to come to her. Orrin Khan.
“Tell me what?” Her voice was still paper thin and raspy, but it had improved much in the hours since she first woke.
“Commander,” Lore brea
