Ellis doesn’t reach for it and Richard doesn’t offer it. Instead he steps away to shut the door, severing the only clean getaway either of them might have made with a quiet click.

His return to the table is anticlimactic.

He sits in silence for a moment with his hands joined and studies the woodgrain. It’s been months since anyone’s been in here. Athessa was the last person to knock on his door.

“Do you think it’s possible to win this war?”