“You said the best translators couldn’t fully read it,” she said.

“Yes.”

“Then that means you can’t read it either.”

The sentence landed with such simple accuracy that even Lenora looked startled.

Dorian gave a short laugh, though it sounded thinner now. “That is hardly the point.”

“I think it is,” Maris replied. “You’re trying to make someone else feel small because there’s something here you don’t understand.”

Lenora inhaled sharply. “Maris—”

But Dorian raised a hand to stop her. Something in him wanted this to continue, though he no longer felt in control of it.

He leaned back against the conference table. “And you understand it?”

Maris lowered her eyes to the page again.

“Some of it,” she said. “Enough to know it wasn’t written to make anyone feel important.”

A Voice That Changed the Room

Dorian’s expression hardened. “You claim to know multiple languages?”

Maris met his stare.