He stared at me for a long while, eyes dark and unreadable, like he was turning over something sharp and rusted in his mind—something he'd never spoken aloud to anyone, something he'd spent half his life swallowing down. Then he shifted in the chair, leaning back slow, his shoulders hunching just a little like he was bracing for a blow.
"Listen carefully," he said, and his voice dropped so deep it rumbled low in his chest, rough as gravel dragged over stone. "Because I've never told anyone this. And I'll not say it twice."
He paused, jaw working, staring into the fire like he could see her face in the flames.
"She wasn't from here. Not from any land we know well. Some far‑off place across the southern seas—sharp, clever, beautiful in the way wild storms are beautiful. She was a spy. Sent to dig out secrets about the southern borders, check the whispers about what the lords down there were planning… and find out exactly what kind of man ruled this south."
