“Then complete it,” I say.
Her finger slides to the center route.
“This one lasts longest.”
“And the rightmost?”
She withdraws her hand. “You only asked about one.”
I study her face, the careful neutrality, the eyes that never settle in one shade long enough to feel entirely mortal, the awareness with which she tracks every word and withholds by instinct. Most liars reveal themselves through excess. She reveals herself through omission.
I roll the map closed.
“The rightmost path contains danger.”
“That wasn’t a question.”
“It is now.”
She tilts her head. “Everything contains danger.”
“Yes, but not everything interests me equally.”
Something flickers through her gaze then, gone too quickly for certainty. Satisfaction perhaps. She wanted me to notice the gap. She wants me working for information rather than receiving it freely. A poor tactic against lesser men. Against me, it becomes data.
“You enjoy this,” I say.
“Being interrogated in a bedroom at dawn?”
“Being difficult.”
“No,” she replies, voice low and measured. “I enjoy being underestimated by people who mistake access for victory.”
There are many responses available. Most would be crude. I prefer accuracy.
“And I enjoy watching people discover that resistance can become another form of cooperation.”
The silence that follows carries no emptiness. I step back first. She notices that too. I don’t remember the last time I had so much fun talking to a servant.
By the time we enter the council chamber, my brothers are already assembled. They do not rise for me. I would have been disappointed if they had. Veylan stands at the head of the central table, broad hands braced against stone as though he means to physically restrain the future through posture alone. Xalith leans against a pillar with all the elegance of a waiting execution. Maelrik remains unreadable in stillness that has become more dangerous since it ceased being simple. Drathis occupies shadow near the rear archway, where he imagines concealment grants him mystery.
Aeryn stops one pace behind me without being instructed. Also noted.
Veylan’s gaze moves from her to me. “You travel with no unit.”
“I travel efficiently.”
“You travel exposed.”
“I travel without delays.”
Xalith gives a short laugh. “Say instead that you don’t trust anyone enough to bring them.”
“That would imply trust is a requirement for usefulness.”
“It is for loyalty.”
“And loyalty,” I say, “is the story men tell when they want reward for doing what benefits them anyway.”