Chapter 68

Mara's POV

The white room had no door.

That was the first problem.

The second was Caldor Rusk sitting on the other side of a glass wall with a Custodian mark exposed on his wrist.

He looked exactly like the kind of man Ronan would trust: broad shoulders gone gray with age, calm eyes, old scars, and the posture of someone who had spent decades standing between danger and other people.

"You are younger than I expected," I said.

He blinked. "We have met twelve times."

"As Ronan's senior warden. I meant as a secret zealot."

His mouth tightened. "I am not a zealot."

"That is encouraging. Zealots rarely know."

He looked past me towa