[Eliana POV]
Fury and suspicion simmered within me even as I rocketed eastward to Clan Rutherford, leaving Stonegate a rapidly shrinking speck on the horizon. The entire situation reeked of something rotten. Ray, the self-proclaimed "manager" of this Babel place, had spun a convoluted tale, one that left a bitter aftertaste in my mouth.
"Luring out an organization," he'd said, his voice smooth and practiced. "Misunderstandings." "Compensation." Empty platitudes that did little to quell my suspicions.
The 'assasination' of a noble's daughter, a staged event to lure out some shadowy organization? It reeked of something far more complex. The convenient capture of the low-level operatives, the 'terrorists' trying to infiltrate the mansion – all felt orchestrated.