Chapter 86
“I’d be careful gloating,” Warlord’s voice crackled over the phone.
Arden was finally getting ready for bed, the quiet of her room a stark contrast to the chaos of the day, when her phone had vibrated on the nightstand. Seeing his name on the screen had sent a different kind of spark through her—not of fire or duty, but of home. He had finally found a moment of reprieve from his mission to call her.
Arden spent the first ten minutes breathlessly recounting the whirlwind of the last thirty-six hours. Hearing that her extension had been reversed, Warlord let out a long, happy sigh of relief. But when she moved on to the armory—detailing how she’d dismantled Douglas’s manipulation and forced him into his place—his tone shifted from relief to weary caution.
“Why?” Arden asked, h
