The teleportation device deposited him onto a platform at the citadel's edge.
Damon stepped off and stopped.
The post station was empty.
Not abandoned in the way of a place that had never been occupied, abandoned in the way of a place that had been occupied recently and vacated deliberately.
An overturned cup near the station wall, still wet inside. Boot prints in the dust leading away from the platform toward the castle interior. The particular quality of silence that came after people had been somewhere and chosen to leave rather than the silence of somewhere nobody had ever been.
He stood still and let his eyes move across the surrounding area.
No guards. No patrol. No reaction to the teleportation device activating.
They'd known he was coming, and they deliberately allowed him to.
