"Then you can't go back."
"My cover was already finished," Cael said. "After the war — after Valentine's army didn't return — the Church began auditing every operative in the field. Cross-referencing locations, timelines, network contacts." His voice was flat with the precision of someone who had run this calculation many times and arrived at the same answer each time. "I didn't pass the audit. I knew it before they finished it."
"Then you came here with nothing left to lose," Satou said.
"I came here with one thing left," Cael said.
He stood from his chair.
And then — in a movement that surprised everyone in the room — he crossed to the front of the table and dropped to both knees before Satou. Not the formal half-bow of a diplomat. Both knees, head lowered, hands flat on his thighs.
The command post went completely still.
