He decided to get right to the point. “My goal was to infiltrate the Godhead. Any way possible. No matter what. I knew that mission would never be approved by the Great Master in the Golden Room, and so . . . I took a risk. I’m sorry for the deceit. But it was working. Those people you captured can get us into the Godhead city.”

The Grief Bearer coughed. “You do realize that we’ve been aware of your location since the second we left you to wander the wilderness? That we were in league with the woman named Letti? That this was all a plan for us to get these people?”

Minho nodded. “Yes, sir. I know it’ll be hard to believe, but I suspected it. I had no choice but to continue on the mission, knowing our goals were aligned.” I’m talking too much, and not very naturally, he chided himself. Every lie was only making the one before it more obvious.

“Is that so?” The man chuckled; his laugh sounded like the buzz of a cracked lightbulb, his mask bouncing along with the forced mirth. “Enough of this. I honestly don’t care what you intend or don’t intend. Say nothing else of our order, of our nation, but we are certainly the most pragmatic of pragmatists. Do you understand? All that matters is accomplishing what lies ahead. Are you willing to help us, or not?”

Minho had truly become the Orphan again. For now. He simply nodded, and resolved to ditch the hastily concocted plan of talking his way out of things.

“Wise choice, son. The only choice, really. Now, are you ready to listen?”

The Orphan nodded once more.

The man shifted in his seat, changing which leg was crossed over the other. The movement looked like large snakes rustling beneath his robe. “In the last hour, I would hope that you’ve asked yourself some questions. For one, why did we let you go on the wilderness-wandering in the first place, and why did we feel the need to have you involved?”

The Orphan opened his mouth to respond on instinct but quickly shut it.

“Also, why bring our entire armada of Bergs and Grief Walkers, just to capture you and a dozen other people? It’s taken a full three decades of effort to bring those Bergs back to working condition, to find the resources to make it happen. It’s taken the most recent decade to design and build just two functional Grief Walkers. We only have two, Orphan. And yet we brought both to that river, that bridge. Doesn’t that make you wonder? Doesn’t that make you question?”

The Orphan nodded. He was doing a lot of that.