Loreen's POV
Ardent looked at him for a moment. Then he looked at Loreen. Then he looked back at Sairis with the gaze of a man who had heard that particular sentence many times and had stopped believing it somewhere around the third or fourth time.
"I will be the judge of that," he said.
Then he turned and looked at Loreen with a raised brow. "I will take care of him," he said. "Do not worry yourself, regent."
Loreen exhaled. "Please do."
Ardent set his bag on the table and opened it, moving around to Sairis's side with the efficient and unhurried manner of someone who had done this many times.
He examined the bruise carefully, said nothing about it, and began treating it.
Loreen stood back and kept his eyes on Sairis. He wanted to ask again. He wanted to push past the stubbornness and get the full truth out of him, because he was certain there was more to it than Sairis was saying.
