Chapter 6
The third video window belonged to Marcus Vale.
One of my father’s oldest advisers.
He had disconnected quickly because he knew exactly what the stream looked like once I appeared.
I called him.
He answered after four rings.
“Mara.”
“You watched.”
Silence.
“How long?”
“Two sessions.”
My jaw tightened.
“And you never told me.”
“I thought Declan had your approval.”
“Why?”
“He said the Savelli family had always tested children early.”
I almost laughed.
“My father tested adults.”
Marcus said nothing.
I continued.
“Did Finn look willing?”
Long pause.
“No.”
That mattered.
Not enough.
But truth.
“Then why keep watching?”
His answer was ugly.
“I wanted to know where this was going.”
There.
Curiosity over intervention.
He watched a child suffer because he wanted more information before risking his position.
I knew men like that.
They call themselves cautious.
They are often simply late.
I removed him from council access immediately.
Marcus called it extreme.
May you like
I disagreed.
A man who needs the fourth video before deciding a three-year-old should not be terrorized is not useful in rooms where silence becomes permission.
