For Keiser, that truth curdled into something worse than grief. It was betrayal. The people they had sworn to protect did not mourn their protectors, they celebrated their deaths.
So here he was, sharing what would soon unfold and what role he intended to play in it. It had not been easy. Convincing them had required more than words, it had required persistence, restraint, and no small amount of patience.
Olga had been the most unyielding, her green eyes narrowing at him with every sentence, suspicion radiating from her like a drawn blade.
Lenko, standing beside her, was no gentler. His own bright eyes were sharpened with questions he wasn't voicing, copper hair bristling as though every strand sought to argue.
