I close the door behind me gently.
“Evening,” I say, voice mild. “Am I interrupting a little negotiation?”
Jasker’s face drains of color. “Lonari?—”
“Tarsen,” I say, ignoring him, eyes on the Coalition official. “You should’ve picked a room with better exits.”
Tarsen smiles like he’s not surprised. “Acting Godfather Kaijen. I didn’t expect you to attend personally.”
“I don’t let people shop for my possessions without me present,” I say pleasantly.
Jasker bristles. “She’s not your?—”
I flick my gaze to him and the words die in his throat.
Tarsen tilts his head. “We were discussing regional stability.”
“Sure,” I say. “And by stability you mean you were arranging to sell a human woman to the Nine.”
Tarsen’s smile flickers—just a hairline crack. “That’s an allegation.”
“Is it?” I ask. I gesture toward the table. “Jasker, tell me what you just agreed to.”
Jasker’s eyes dart. “I didn’t?—”
I take one slow step forward. The air tastes like tension now, sharp and electric.
“I’m giving you one chance,” I say quietly. “You confess, on record, what you planned. Or I take your tongue and let the Nine wonder why you suddenly went silent.”
Tarsen’s eyes widen slightly at the rawness under my calm tone. Jasker looks like he might vomit.
His voice shakes. “Lonari—listen?—”
“No,” I say. “You listen.”
I tap my slate and project the audio feed transcript above the table—word for word, timestamped.
Jasker’s throat works. His shoulders sag a fraction. “I… I agreed to deliver Jordan. To the Nine. In exchange for amnesty and territory.”
The confession hangs in the room like smoke.
Jordan’s voice crackles in my ear, stunned and furious and hurt all at once. “Holy?—”
I keep my eyes on Jasker. “Why?”
He flinches. “Because you’re going to get us all killed. Because you suspended tribute. Because you?—”
“Because you’re a coward,” I say, and my voice isn’t loud. It doesn’t have to be. “Because you looked at a woman like she’s a crate of goods. Because you thought your skin mattered more than your oath.”
Tarsen exhales softly. “This doesn’t need to become violent.”
I turn my gaze to him slowly. “Oh, it won’t,” I say. “Not in the way you’re hoping.”
I look back at Jasker.
“Publicly,” I say, “you live.”
Jasker’s eyes flick up, disbelieving. “You?—”
