[He nods in acknowledgment of the sympathy, but doesn't show much more emotion than that; after a year, the wound of betrayal has begun to heal, though he suspects there will always be a kind of scar.]

That was exactly the question I asked myself shortly before my summoning. I think it will have to stay in my hands; our fortress is defensible and I killed all of those who knew for sure that it was with us.

[There's still a faint note of uncertainty, as if something remains unsettled despite the deaths of the ten conspirators. So long as the Apple exists, it will be a danger. Destroy it as you said you would. He couldn't then, and Altaïr suspects he wouldn't now.]