Malrik POV
"I don’t trust Tavian either," I said evenly, my tone leaving no room for misunderstanding. "But he can serve a purpose intel on Quillan, and Quillan alone. None of the other nine. He’s not to be given the full picture. Am I clear?"
Vladan gave a curt nod, grasping the boundaries I’d set.
I exhaled, thoughts already moving two steps ahead. "More importantly, we need the truth about what happened in that village. Zebulon’s account doesn’t sit right with me. The silence around it it’s too neat, too deliberate. Either mass compulsion has been used, or something far darker. A poisoning. A slaughter engineered for propaganda. Whatever it was, it reeks of design." My voice hardened. "We investigate. Thoroughly. And if there are survivors, we find them."
I knew what I was asking. B
