POV: Thorne (Third person limited).Kane's voice filled the study like something poured rather than spoken, smooth and unhurried, the voice of a man who had never once needed to raise it to be obeyed. Thorne sat across the table with his hands folded and his expression arranged into the right amount of attention. Not too eager or too guarded. A Beta listening to a High Council Elder discuss contacts and archives as if he had not spent the last hour wondering whether any of it could be trusted."The old registry from before the Reformation still exists," Kane said, sliding a folded paper toward Lucian. "Buried, but not destroyed. If the Silver Voice moved through Council circles at any point, there will be a name in there. Might take weeks to dig it out properly.""Weeks we may not have," Lucian said."Then I will move faster than weeks."Thorne watched the exchange, cataloguing tone and posture, the small tells that told a man more than his words ever did. Kane's hands stayed loose on
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