Joji and Alaric left nothing out. Papers rose and drifted through the office while Duchess Rosalind recorded every detail with quiet precision, her quills moving fast.
Joji told it first. Alaric filled in what he missed. Names. Routes. The swamp. The boar king. The mansion. The donkey in trousers. The steel creature called Fourteen. Even the proof they had dragged home wrapped like a corpse in cloth.
Three hours later, even Rosalind's sharp eyes looked strained.
Only then did Joji and Alaric finally let out a breath.
Daisy did not.
She stood off to the side with a sour look on her face, shooting Joji a glare whenever the story circled back to the Lady of the Swamp.
Alaric had been far too clear in his retelling, far too blunt for Joji's comfort.
"The Lady did not spare me a single glance. Her eyes stayed on Joji, like..."
Joji shot him a look at once. Not hostile. Just the sort brothers understood without needing words. You are making trouble for me.
