Maleki sighed heavily and sat there in the silence that followed for quite some time. Aleksandra was right. With them… no, with her after her almost infuriatingly persistent attempts to familiarize herself with him again and their current state of being, Maleki was cracking under it all. Instead of holding it in and allowing the damn to burst later, Maleki chose a different route.<span class="fixed-color" style="color:#4da6ff">“I have a bounty because of what the people of Valkaren call the Shattered Nights. No one had heard of the Young Lord Todori, even if they saw his father’s head being carried out with the bannermen proper. So, as rebellion started getting violent, the usurper’s puppet counter attacked. When that started to fail, he… released the Young Lord,”</span>Maleki said, turning his head towards Aleksandra and conveying just how much bullshit he was spewing right now with his eyes.<span class="fixed-color" style="color:#4da6ff"> “Officially, the Ruined Oligarchy has no solid proof as to how their friend and lord had been manipulated, but standing theories is that either he was tortured and brainwashed for the weeks after the invasion, or a sorcerer came with the bannermen and put the young man under a spell.”</span><br/><br/>Maleki sighed, and turned to look forward.<span class="fixed-color" style="color:#4da6ff">“The Young Lord earned the new title of the Bloody Exarch as he executed every living person inside the Lord’s Estate. Everyone who grew up with him as staff apprentices, or watched him grow up into a respectable heir apparent. As he began to make his way outside where his mentor proudly laid down his life to stop him and maybe loosen whatever hold was on the lord’s mind. The usurper’s puppet was never found, having escaped during the confusion. To this day, an open bounty has been issued by the Ruined Oligarchy for the capture of their friend -alive- so they may attempt to make some progress in undoing the mess that had been made of their friend’s mind. The Bloody Exarch always ends up escaping, sometimes leaving a body behind. But they refuse to give up.”</span><br/><br/>After a moment to catch his breath, Maleki continued.<span class="fixed-color" style="color:#4da6ff">“The way I see it, it is better for you and your case if you were clueless to the why’s of it all,”</span>Maleki explained, before moving just his eyes towards her.<span class="fixed-color" style="color:#4da6ff">“But that’s too late now, ain’t it Allie? Tommen still gets to wait, but you… you get the preview to the shitshow. Because of your ... intense capacity of persistence. Now please, do you care to trust me until we have a guest suite to ourselves, or do you want to try to lie past career politicians and merchants?”</span>