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He was a little surprised that Queen Helen had not already asked him to go to Intar. He wondered what Prince David might’ve been telling her to assuage her concerns about his well-being. Or perhaps she was simply too busy with all her own stuff to worry about that, right now.

Or... perhaps she just didn’t want to lean on Hector again.

He sincerely hoped that wasn’t the case.

A knock arrived at his door, and rather than immediately answering, Hector instinctively reached out with the Scarf of Amordiin in order to figure out who was on the other side of the nightrock.

Tough to say. Judging by the silhouette and considering who the most likely candidates were, he was guessing that it was Ms. Rogers.

“Come in,” he said aloud, remaining seated at his desk.

To his surprise, his guess had been wrong. It was actually Joana Cortes, sharply dressed in a long skirt, glasses, and carrying a folder under her arm.

Huh. She didn’t normally wear glasses, he was pretty sure.

“Hello, lord,” she said, closing the heavy door behind her. “Updated report for you from Isaac’s team.” She waved the folder in front of her.

He blinked and stood up to take it. “Already? The last one wasn’t that long ago.”

“Apparently, he thought it was important enough to tell us right away.”

Hector wasted no time and began skimming the document.

With the help of the reinforcements he’d sent them, they’d expanded their operations deeper into the Wetlands for recon.

Oof. Risky move, but he understood the decision. He hadn’t sent them backup so that they could just sit there, twiddling their thumbs.

Bloodeye’s forces had increased in size again, and there were rumors going around that Jercash was nearby.

Worse news, Hector was struggling to imagine.

But there was more. Despite the obvious increase in manpower, Bloodeye was not using them in order to press an advantage against the battered Vanguardian forces stationed there.

Instead, they were splitting up and heading across the border into Intar.

Okay, that might be worse news.

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Rathmore’s Gate stood in the evening twilight, waiting in silence as Hector approached it.

After getting that report, he’d moved quickly, making sure the intel got relayed back over to Vito, as well as Queen Helen. On the flight over here, he’d gotten plenty more time to contemplate this decision.