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He was the only one who didn’t look confused.

Instead, he watched me warily, a harder set to his jaw.

From his expression, he now understood exactly why I’d chosen this particular group for this conversation. I fully intended to gang up on him, and I could see him realizing that even as he measured my eyes.

“Balidor does,” I said, blunt. “Balidor knows a lot about them, I suspect. He certainly knows more than you or I, Military Commander Wreg.”

Placing a hand on my hip, I motioned towards the Adhipan leader with the other.

“I know he won’t like this, but I’m looking for some transparency, brothers and sisters. Balidor knew the seer Jon ran into last night. His name is Dalejem. He used to be Adhipan, and hespecificallyused to be Adhipan under Balidor… this was before he was recruited by the Children of the Bridge.”

I let my words sink in with the other three.

I continued to stare at Balidor.

“I was told last night that any further information on that group, who runs it, what they have to do with me, or with our operation here, was strictly need-to-know,” I added. “I was also informed that I wasnota part of that privileged circle, for security reasons that were not explained to me. I intend to ask my husband some of these questions, as well, since he, too, had prior knowledge of this group, and of the seer, Dalejem. But I thought the five of us might start that discussion here.”

The silence in the room deepened.

Chandre, Wreg, and Jon were all looking at Balidor now.

In particular, I noted the angry scowl on Wreg’s face.

“I can see from your faces that none of you were deemed worthy of this ‘need to know’ security group, either,” I said, looking back at Balidor. “And while I understand that you likely have good reason for your silence, brother Balidor… as you always have good reasons for the decisions you make for your intermediaries… I admit, my patience is below zero with the secrets and factional bullshit going on within my leadership team right now. Secrets about Revik’s light, and his ties to Menlim’s construct…”

I gave Balidor another hard look.

“…Secrets about mysterious groups I do not know if I should count among my enemies or my friends.”

Feeling my jaw harden more, I dropped the formality.

“How the fuck am I supposed to operate like this?” I smacked a palm on the organic table. “Seriously?” I glared at Balidor. “How am I supposed to make tactical decisions? My own fuckingteamdoesn’t trust me with sensitive information.”

When I looked up that time, Balidor had paled.

Wreg looked pissed off now, too. So did Jon. I couldn’t tell exactly who Jon was mad at, but it was pretty clear from Wreg’s face that most of Wreg’s anger now aimed at Balidor.

“How are we going to resolve this?” I asked.

No one spoke.

I looked around at all of them again.

“Who do I go to, to resolve this?” I asked. “The Council? Tarsi? Who the fuck is actually in charge here? And if it’s not me, who should I be giving my recommendations to?” My gaze swiveled back to the Adhipan leader. “Is it you, Balidor?”

I saw his light spark out as I stared at him, holding more emotion than maybe I’d ever seen on him, at least outside of a personal context. Realizing I’d just hit probably at the core of his identity, by questioning his loyalty, I frowned.

I stared down at the table, shaking my head.

“I can’t have this,” I said, looking at each of them. “I can’t fucking have this. Do you all understand what I am saying? If you want someone else in charge, then fuckingputsomeone else in charge. Do you want Revik in charge again, like he was when I was gone? Fine. I’ll answer to Revik. No problem. If that’s what everyone wants, that’s what we’ll do. We can make the change today… the minute we walk out of here. But I’m not going to deal with this bullshit and dishonestyfrom my own team.”

When I looked around at them that time, they all looked pale.

Wreg shifted his weight on his feet. He looked around at the rest of them.

“Do we need to bring the Council into this?” I demanded.

The one person who hadn’t seemed to react much answered first.