The trap took six months to build. It required absolute patience, a virtue Kaelen Myrvalis possessed in terrifying abundance.
For half a year. the Korthane Attaché was the most watched man in the Dominion. Every piece of mail he received was steamed open. photographed. and resealed. Every person he spoke to in the markets was trailed. Every dead drop he utilized in the sprawling diplomatic quarter of Ashenveil was mapped. Exactly.
Kaelen sat in his office, reviewing the final surveillance summary. The web was complete.
The attaché was not working for the Arbiter. The surveillance had proved it. The coded messages left in the dead drops were retrieved by couriers working for Sorrathite merchant guilds. The attaché was the middleman—a logistical genius hiding in plain sight behind Korthane diplomatic immunity. He coordinated the bribes, managed the shipping schedules, and ensured the Halvern factory managers moved the surplus aetheric alloy onto the right ships at the right time.
