The bottom row of monitors showed the basin. The bombardment. Luna's bait run. Alice's halo blazing across the sky. And Kaiden, standing on the ridge with his arms folded, watching it all unfold with the cold precision of a young man who had outplayed his enemies and served them their own medicine.
Vespera watched every screen at once and her face did not move.
The artifact on the desk beside her crackled to life.
"Your son is a great man." Eleanora's voice came through warm and genuine, carrying the particular fondness of a woman who had just spent an hour with someone who'd exceeded her expectations. "I enjoyed my talk with him throughout."
Vespera said nothing.
Her eyes didn't move from the screens. She sat in her chair in her underground lab and received the compliment about her firstborn son with the responsiveness of carved marble.
