Lena's POV
I spent the two days following Rourke's disclosure the way I spent most things that required thinking through carefully: systematically, with my notebook open and my mind moving through the information from multiple angles without letting it settle into conclusions before the evidence was ready to support them.
The council member Rourke had named was called Aldric. I had been watching him since the formal pack dinner in Crestfall, when I had caught him watching me across the table with an expression that was working very hard to be nothing. I had noted the sustained focus, the three glances toward Damien, the particular quality of a man conducting a private calculation whose answer was not satisfying him.
I had filed it then and moved forward. Now I returned to it with the ad
