The guard officer who'd been feeding Tamsin's network intelligence for nearly four months disappeared without warning, his usual signal to a contact at a border tavern going unanswered for the first time since their arrangement began. Tamsin brought the concerning development to Mercer immediately.
"Either he's been caught, or he's simply grown too frightened to continue," she said, though her expression carried genuine worry rather than simple professional concern. "I've worked with him long enough to doubt the second possibility."
Three days later, confirmation arrived through a different channel entirely, a merchant returning from Drake's territory with grim news that spread quickly through the border communities. A public execution, conducted with deliberate, theatrical cruelty, the
