Caelan was quiet for a few seconds.Not the silence of someone searching for words. But the silence of someone who knew what they wanted to say and was choosing the best way to say it honestly without hurting something that didn't need to be hurt."I deeply appreciate this, Miss Elara." His voice came out in a way that didn't close the door but didn't fully open it either. "Your intention, your effort—" His eyes briefly went to her bandaged fingers before returning to her face. "None of that is something I can take lightly."He paused briefly. "But you should know that I've just come out of something that left marks. Not wounds still open, but marks that need time before someone can step in a new direction the right way." Another pause. "I'm not ready for that. At least not yet. And I don't want to start something I can't give to fully."Elara listened without changing her expression.But there was no disappointment there that needed to be hidden, because this answer had already been

The cliff at Velmont's western edge faced a sea that was black under moonlight.Caelan landed at its tip, set the Elder's body on the rock, and began examining what this man had been carrying tonight.Black robe. A belt with several small pouches. And on his back, a sheathed sword that was heavy in his hand in a way different from ordinary weight.He pulled the sword from its sheath.The blade was gold. Not painted or coated gold, but gold that looked like part of the blade's own material, with a gleam that reflected moonlight in a way too bright for the amount of light available. Under a night without city lamps, the sword glowed.Caelan had barely had three seconds to look at it—His left hand suddenly moved.Not by his conscious will, but a motion originating from the black sword. Thousands of pieces of black material began emerging from the surface of his skin, floating between his left palm and that gold sword, and before Caelan could respond, the pieces moved toward the golden b

The silence of the suite didn't last long.James's voice came back through the phone still in Harrison's hand. "Harrison, I'm out. That man is too strong. He's not an ordinary person. Going against him doesn't make any sense. You'd be better off too if you—""You're free to step back." Harrison cut in with a very flat tone. "But I won't.""Harrison, have you lost your—"The call ended.Harrison threw his phone onto the sofa and turned to look at Serena, who was still sitting limp on the floor. Her face red, her eyes wet, her breathing not yet fully back to normal.He crouched in front of her."Looks like I have a better plan for getting rid of that bastard."Serena looked at him with eyes that no longer had much strength to communicate anything except fear. No words came out, her body still too weak for that.Harrison stood, walked to the small table in the corner of the room, and opened the bottom drawer.Inside, a black pistol lay on a fabric lining.He picked it up. Looked at the w

"I'LL KILL YOU, YOU BASTARD!"Harrison threw the empty gun to the floor, producing a sound that echoed through the room, then charged forward.His fist shot toward Caelan's face at a speed that might have been enough to knock down a man who hadn't prepared himself.But his opponent was Caelan. Caelan only tilted his head two centimeters to the left, and the fist passed his ear.Harrison attacked again with his left hand, harder, a different angle, with a disorganized anger in a motion that had no technique in it beyond panic borrowing the shape of an attack.Caelan didn't move from where he stood. Only his head tilting to the other side.The second fist also only hit empty air.Harrison drew a breath and attacked again, this time to the body, but Caelan's foot moved one step to the side.Harrison's momentum finding no target carried him forward half a step, and while his body was still in that unstable position, Caelan's foot swept behind Harrison's right knee.CRACK.Harrison dropped

The cab stopped at a red light.Caelan opened the door."I'll get out here."He closed the door without looking back, stood briefly at the side of the still-quiet road, then leaped upward.From rooftop to rooftop, from one height to the next, until The Grandeur was visible from above with its corridor lights still on even though almost no one was moving through them.He landed on his balcony without a sound.The sliding door opened, and the familiar air of the room that had been his for the past few days welcomed him.Caelan stood for a moment in the middle of the room, not immediately doing anything. A lot had happened tonight, with the old cultivator, with Harrison, in the cab, and all of it sat in layers in his head that didn't need to be sorted through one by one right now.The wall clock showed almost three in the morning.Caelan took off his shoes, set them neatly, and went straight to the bed.No meditation tonight. His body wasn't tired in any physical sense, but there was ano