The fortress smelled like smoke for two days straight.
By the time the Council finished arguing over what remained of the eastern armory, Alistair had the scorched ring locked in his own private study, and a fresh line carved into his jaw that hadn't fully healed a testament, Eva suspected, to exactly how many people he'd had to physically restrain himself from strangling during that meeting.
"Voss," he said, the moment the last Council member finally left. "She gave you the first ring. She knows more than she told you."
"She told me it belonged to your mother."
"She told you a fraction of the truth, dressed up to sound complete." He was already moving, pulling Eva along by the hand, down a corridor she hadn't yet explored, deeper into the fortress's older wing where the stone walls g
