“They killed him," the captain said, dirt still fresh on his boots.
“At the fell.".
Liam looked up from the river map he had not been reading.
“Who?".
“Your beta," the captain said, swallowing.
“Sir.".
Silence.
Then the room remembered it had sound: a log shifting in the grate, a fly testing a window, a guard's armor clicking because a hand didn't know what else to do.
“Rogues," the captain added, as if the word might make the world rearrange into a sense that hurt less.
“Rogues don't take betas," Liam said.
“They run.".
“Not today," the captain said.
Liam stood.
The chair's legs scraped stone like a rebuke.
“You saw the body?".
“We saw the blood," the captain said.
“We saw the place.
They pulled back and let us carry him.".
“Let?" Liam repeated, cold sharpening.
“They l
