"Yes?"
"I did not tell you to make you angry."
"No," Arion said. "You told me because it's important."
Thomas exhaled once. "Yes."
Arion released the chair and reached for the folder again, but this time he did not open Andrea's reports. He pulled a blank sheet from the side of the desk and began writing with calm, precise movements.
Thomas watched him.
"What are you doing?"
"Adding another line of inquiry."
"Into Andrea?"
"Into everyone who had access to Caelan's sealed proposal, everyone who discussed it after his death, and everyone who may have passed the contents to Andrea's circle." Arion's pen moved smoothly across the page. "Dean knows what Caelan intended. He knows enough of the ugliness already. That does not mean Andrea had the right to turn it into a private insult or a political weapon."
Thomas's eyes darkened. "It becomes Palatine."
