The silence that followed Kael's answer did not truly seem to end. It only changed shape, becoming less an emptiness and more a heavy layer over the table. Elizabeth kept her eyes closed for several seconds, as if she needed to force her own heart to accept a possibility her mind already understood. Liza remained still, but the stiffness in her shoulders revealed that each word had cost more than her posture allowed her to show.
Kael watched the two of them for a moment before turning his gaze back to the folder.
"There is another matter."
Liza opened her eyes.
"What?"
"If Vlad still carries part of this lineage command, keeping him imprisoned solves only the immediate problem." Kael touched the cover of the folder with two fingers. "It does not eliminate the weapon."
