Allen crossed Corven's threshold and turned toward home.The forge heat dropped off his back after a few strides. Morning traffic had thickened while he'd been inside. A handcart blocked most of the lane ahead, and apprentices were arguing over a crate in the gap beside it.Allen went around both without slowing.His right ribs pulled when he lengthened his stride. The ache was deep, familiar, and nowhere near enough to matter. Silverhowl stayed quiet at his left hip. The new A-rank badge bumped against his shirt before he caught the edge with his left hand and flattened it.He opened the follower link.'Fendrel.'The answer came after a short delay, clean and spare.'Door's secure. Nobody's crossed it.'No shouting behind the words. No borrowed sight. Just Fendrel's report.'Attack?''None.'That was enough from him.'Maris.''Here, boss.' Her thought came faster. 'T

Allen's next stride hit the open road.Violet spoke before he could take another.[Violet: Host. Direct physical threat to Wife detected.]Everything in him went still except his legs.Maris struck the follower link almost on top of the warning.'Boss. He pulled the chair. Brakes caught.'That was enough.Allen didn't ask Maris for another description. The words had already given him the part that mattered. The man beside Seraphina's chair had tried to pull it. The locked brakes had stopped him.Maris and Fendrel were already in the room. They could stop the Valemont men from getting farther into the house.They couldn't erase the streets between Allen and his wife.The street ahead ran clear to the next corner. Home was still beyond it, beyond stone and people and every ordinary second his body would need to cross the distance.Allen stopped running.His right ribs bit at the

The lead Valemont man drew a breath. When he spoke again, his voice had returned to its careful House polish."Sir. I am acting here under House Valemont's authority. My duty is to see Lady Seraphina returned safely and settle this matter without further disorder."Allen held the lead man's gaze briefly, then shifted his attention to the man who had been beside Seraphina's wheelchair."Your man put his hand on her chair after she refused you."The lead man's mouth tightened. "He was attempting to assist Lady Seraphina when the discussion became unnecessarily difficult."Allen's gaze shifted to the second man. "Get away from her." He didn't raise his voice or touch Silverhowl. The second man looked at Allen instead of moving."I was clearing the chair from the table."His voice was rougher than the lead man's, defensive rather than polished.Allen glanced at the locked wheel beside Seraphina's foot. "She didn't a

Near noon the next day, the old records clerk looked up from a stack of tied folders and stared at Allen's chest.Her eyes stayed on the A-rank badge for a beat before moving to his face."Again?"Allen stopped Seraphina's wheelchair at the counter. "You make it sound personal.""You keep bringing me work." The clerk leaned sideways and looked at Seraphina. "And somehow he's getting shinier every time you come in."Seraphina tipped her chin toward Allen, amusement clear in her eyes.Allen shifted his grip on the wheelchair handles. A full breath no longer caught under his right ribs. The soreness remained somewhere deeper, but pushing the chair didn't wake it.The clerk pushed her spectacles higher. "Same arrangement?"Seraphina nodded."He reads with you?"Another nod."Good. I still need your mark."Allen slipped his right hand into his trouser pocket, brought out the wrappe

The door number from the Guild papers matched the brass plate beside the annex entrance.Allen brought Seraphina's wheelchair to a stop at the threshold. The annex had a narrow stone frontage, a reinforced door, and a young guard in House colors watching them arrive.The guard looked at Allen's A-rank badge first, then at Seraphina. His eyes stayed there a little longer.Allen rested both hands on the wheelchair handles. "We're here to collect property you're holding."The younger guard glanced at the sword on Allen's left hip. "Receiving desk. Weapons stay sheathed.""Works for me."He opened the door, let them through, then came in behind them and took the left wall.The front room was plain enough to belong to a warehouse rather than a noble House. A heavy counter divided visitors from the staff side. Behind it, a gray-haired man sat with a ledger open beneath his hand. Another security man stood near a closed inner d