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Talia relaxed by a fraction.

Anik continued. “I do not yet know which systems are compromised, and you have already demonstrated that ordinary administrative, military, and covert channels cannot be assumed clean.”

I nodded once. Correct.

“Who has the evidence?” he asked.

Talia answered. “We do.”

“All of it?”

“Not in one place.”

That caught his attention.

“We separated one copy into a quarantine holding route before we reached central security,” she explained.

Anik looked at her. “A decoy?”

“Insurance.”

Something almost like approval crossed his face. “Good.”

Talia glanced at me.

I did not hide the fact that I agreed.

Anik looked at the screen one more time. Then at me.

Eight years ago, I would have stood when he entered. Reported casualties. Waited for orders.

Now I lay in a medical bed while the Crown Prince stared at proof that someone had moved through royal, military, administrative, and covert systems for years—and hidden part of it behind the name of his own family.

His gaze moved back to the royal identifier.

The room seemed to tighten around him.

When he spoke again, his voice was quieter.

“My brother found this before you did.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

Talia

Iwoke up because nothing hurt.

That was the first thing I noticed. No alarm, pounding footsteps, terminal warning me that someone had found us, or Veyr breathing too hard beside me while pretending he was fine.

Just quiet.

For several seconds, I didn’t move.

The room was unfamiliar but comfortable in a way that made my brain take longer than usual to place it. A large bed, soft gray linens, a wall of dark glass overlooking central Zunator, and furniture that looked expensive without trying too hard. A narrow door stood open to a bathing room bigger than some Earth apartments I remembered.

Royal quarters.

Right.