Isaac studied her for a few seconds. She looked genuinely uncomfortable.
But instead of accepting the apology as is, he asked, "Were they part of your faction?"
Althea's eyes widened slightly. She had expected him to be guarded, maybe even cold, but she hadn't expected him to come out with a question that direct.
Most people with political instincts tended to circle before they struck. Isaac apparently didn't see the point in that.
The question told her two things at once.
First, he was genuinely annoyed by whatever X-019 and Elyndra had done, and if Althea turned out to share their allegiances, that annoyance would extend to her by association.
Second, and more interestingly, he was testing her. The answer she gave would tell him how much she was willing to put on the table, and from that he could read both her intentions and something of the shape of Florathi's internal politics.
She weighed it for only a moment before deciding.
"Can we talk inside?" she asked.
