“I’m working.”
“That wasn’t what I meant.”
I pause for a second, then finish securing the wrap before pulling my hand back.
“Neither was I,” I reply.
The silence that follows isn’t tense. Then I shift back, the moment breaking just enough for the plan to settle into place again.
“There’s a third faction,” I say.
Vaedros doesn’t react visibly, but I feel the shift anyway. “There always is.”
“They’re not involved yet.”
“Which means they will be.”
“Yes.”
I turn fully this time, facing him, grounding myself in the present before I continue. “House Zethon.”
That gets a reaction. Small. Controlled. But real.
“They don’t engage without cause,” he says.
“I know.”
“Then what changes?”
“I’m not telling you all of it yet.”
The tension returns instantly. Sharper than before.
“You’re withholding again,” he says.
“Yes.”
“That’s becoming a pattern.”
“So is you walking into outcomes you don’t understand.”
His expression tightens slightly at that, but he doesn’t interrupt.
“They don’t move unless something forces them to,” I continue. “Not pressure. Not opportunity. Something specific.Something tied to the artifact itself. To its origin. To the Deceiver. To the kind of gate it opens.”
“And you know what that is.”
“I know enough.”
“That isn’t an answer.”
“It’s the one you’re getting.”
I shift forward, pushing past it before it turns into something else.
“They’ll have scouts out,” I say. “Soon. Before they commit fully. They’ll confirm first.”
“Where?”