The steward held the order at exactly the height required to prevent Valen seeing the door behind it.
“Delegation privilege,” he said.
Valen took the offered edge and read.
It protected the floor from general searches, covered private delegation papers, and required the building staff to preserve the access restriction.
The steward was doing what he had been told to do.
A local guard shifted his weight beside the stair.
“Urgent inquiry. We could open the room and explain afterward.”
“An invalid search would make the evidence easier to discard than the door would be to break,” Valen said.
