Chapter 66
Kael's POV
The silence after Riven left did not feel like silence in the usual sense.
It felt like something had been removed from the room and the space it left behind was still trying to settle into a new shape.
I had seen men leave before.
I had ordered men to leave before.
It was never supposed to feel like this.
Tori hadn't spoken since the announcement.
Not properly.
Not in the way she usually did when she was angry or afraid or trying too hard to hide both at the same time.
She had simply stood there, watching Riven until he disappeared past the gates, and then she had gone still in a way that made the rest of the world feel too loud around her.
I should have gone after her immediately.
I didn't.
Because I had already sent Riven away.
And that decision was going to cost more than I wanted to admit.
By the time I reached the interrogation chamber, the woman from the market was already seated.
Bound.
Not injured.
Exactly as she had been found.
