Marin did not look amused.
"That is convenient."
"With Mezos, convenience usually means someone has been forced into compliance."
"Good," Marin said. "I like competent force when it saves time."
The footsteps outside the sitting room proved both of them correct.
Mezos's pace came first, measured and controlled, the sound of a man who had successfully transported a difficult person and expected no gratitude for it.
Then came Liam.
Only Liam, at least visibly.
Arik knew better.
The corridor outside the sitting room had gone quiet in the particular way Agaronian security made silence when it wished to be invisible. The Shadows were there. He could feel the shape of their absence more than their presence, positioned in the gaps between sightlines, in the brief pause between one step and the next. Liam did not notice them. He was too irritated, focused on Mezos, and too deep inside his own offense to feel the room had already been secured before he crossed the threshold.
