One of the human guards standing nearby finally spoke carefully, perhaps trying to fill the terrible silence hanging beneath the screams with something more normal. "You are still allowing us to work here, Alpha?" Thessian's gaze shifted toward him briefly, acknowledging the question. The man straightened immediately beneath that attention but forced himself to continue speaking. "We didn't harm anyone." His voice carried rough honesty rather than fear or pleading. "It was them." A glance moved bitterly toward the imprisoned ministers and royal cells. "They destroyed Valeria long before you arrived."
