The captain's office fell silent after Tristan slammed his hand on the table. Even Emir had to breathe carefully.
That silence broke when Tristan spoke, his voice cold. "So… they also figured out the tracks we left were fake?"
"Yes, Captain. They discovered we misled them with druid powder. They're now tracing its origin. Chances are, they'll find it leads back to us."
One look at his captain told Emir everything, Tristan was furious. He held his tongue, wisely keeping any questions about the next step to himself.
But Tristan wasn't only angry. Beneath his stern face was gnawing unease. He had expected the druids to uncover the ruse eventually, but not this quickly.
They should've had months before suspicion caught up, months he could've used to scatter more false trails.
Instead, the druids had gotten their hands on information from under his very nose.
"Remove every person that the druids planted inside the mayor's hall," Tristan ordered, voice sharp as steel.
