Riley's mouth went dry.
Interesting. He hadn't expected that. He hadn't expected them to go this far.
Rowan's silver gaze did not waver. "Aide Hale, I owe you an apology on behalf of the elves for the treatment you have endured here. It should never have reached the point where you were subjected to such things. And yet, it did. That failure is ours to bear."
He studied the prince for a moment. A perfect face, steady voice, and no trace of hesitation.
If nothing else, Riley had to admire the performance. Rowan's apology came without excuses, without the usual strings of justifications that often clung to hollow words.
It sounded sincere. Painfully so.
And yet he was guarded.
Although maybe if he hadn't overheard fragments of what they were planning, he would have devoured that apology like a starving man at a banquet. After all, how many times in his life would someone like him ever receive an apology from a person of that standing?
