Vesa stopped carrying Alucard's voice into the room.
Thepes watched her from inside the restraint, then closed his eyes without letting his head rest against the ice. She kept the marks around his body in view while narrowing the conversation to the old connection alone.
"Master, can you hear me without the others?"
"Yes."
She waited through a faint break in the answer.
He was still weak. Finding a clearer path had not given him the strength to say more. She wouldn't ask him for a long explanation just to keep hearing his voice.
But there were things she needed before they tried to reach anyone else.
"I wanted to thank you," she said. "For helping them stop Thepes. And for the organ."
"They did the work."
"They needed what you knew."
Vesa looked through the doorway. One of Dorian's soldiers stood beyond it, holding his weapon low while another carried supplies toward the wounded.
