Aldric spent the first month after Alaric's return monitoring for any signal that Vael was present in the Realm or attempting an alternative approach. There was nothing. He offered two possible explanations: that Vael, having lost the vehicle he'd spent years developing, had retreated to assess and plan, or that the work's disruption of his presence in the Realm had cost him more than we'd realized, and he was recovering.
"Which do you think it is?" I asked.
"The second," Aldric said. "He is old, but the work was thorough. What we did there was not small."
"But he's not gone."
"No, he is not gone." He met my eyes. "There will be more. That threat exists, and it has not been resolved. But the immediate vector through Alaric is closed, and Alaric himself is no longer vulnerable in the wa
