Loyalty Bound in Silence
"But?" Leon prompted softly.
His tone wasn't impatient. If anything, it was measured—inviting the truth forward. He stood with his hands clasped behind his back, posture relaxed, golden eyes steady. Too steady.
Something stopped him. The muscles along his face pulled tight. Under three different leaders he worked. Mercy came. So did cruelty. Madness too. But this - this was unlike anything before.
"They are criminals," the warden said, unable to hold it in. His voice echoed faintly off the stone. "Former assassins who attempted to kill King Gary. If word spreads that you elevated them - "
Something held him back, yet the unspoken thought hung there, slow and thick as rising steam.
Fingers tightened on the blade when Leon stepped in. A breath later, space between them snapped shut.
"So what?"
Quiet sat the words. Necessary? Not at all.
