He arrived on the third day, as promised.
I watched him ride through Ironveil's northern gate from the window of my guest room — three days of preparation and intelligence review and the particular focused calm of someone who has done everything that can be done in advance and is now simply ready. Dorian Valdris came with six wolves, all bearing Valdris colors — deep burgundy and charcoal gray, colors I had researched along with everything else Cael's network had produced about the new eastern Alpha.
He was younger than I had expected.
Late twenties, perhaps thirty at the outside — which meant he had been barely more than a young adult when he first embedded himself in the Coalition's moderate faction. That kind of strategic patience at that age indicated either exceptional discipline o
