Moreau stood at the window, her reflection a pale mask against the darkening town. But behind those golden eyes, her mind was a whirlwind of branching paths and collapsing futures. She discarded flawed strategies like a card sharp ditching bad hands, searching for the single, elegant play.
If Raven wanted the source of Moreau's wealth, there was only one place she could be planning to go. The Ancient Caves held secrets worth more than all the amber in Orellia's cliffs—artifacts and knowledge that had funded Moreau's rise from small-time pirate to regional power. The excavation had been proceeding slowly, carefully, but the preliminary discoveries had already exceeded her most optimistic projections.
She turned from the window and addressed Saxe directly. "Take four of our best people to the excavation site. Not the entire security detail—I want it to look like normal operations. But if anyone unauthorized approaches those caves tonight, I want them taken alive if possible."
