They came back four hours later.
Oryn first, with the expression of a man who had seen things he was still organizing. Kael behind him, steadier on his feet than when he left, carrying a sealed case that he set on Caelan’s council table with the careful movements of someone transporting something fragile or dangerous.
Maren came last.
She was not visibly injured, which was the first relief. But she was changed in some quality that I could not immediately name, the way a room changes after a significant conversation has happened in it and the furniture is all in the same place but the air holds the shape of what was said.
She sat down without being invited. “The Hollow Court’s leadership is fracturing,” she said. “Maren Doss walking back in and asking questions they did not expect was s
