“He died from the beating,” Kael replied. “Before I entered his body.”Elena kept her hands in her lap. Beyond the vehicle, an officer called for another roll of tape to close off the damaged entrance. Someone answered him, and a car door shut.She looked at Kael as though he had not finished speaking.“Before,” she said. “You're certain of that?”“Yes,” Kael replied. “I didn't force him out. There was no living soul left when I arrived.”Elena turned toward the open rear door. Her fingers gripped the edge of the seat, and she leaned forward until Kael thought she might be sick. He started to reach for her, then stopped before touching her shoulder.“The body was badly injured,” he said. “I kept it alive after I entered. I couldn't bring Ethan back.”She pressed a hand against her mouth. For several breaths, she made no sound. Then she lowered her head and began to cry.Kael sat beside her with the blanket she had placed over his knees. There was no spell he could offer, even if he ha

“If I go, I'm wearing the brace,” Thomas said. “I'm not falling in front of a room full of people because somebody wants a photograph.”Maya looked up from the banquet invitation. “Nobody asked you to take it off,” she replied.“I'm saying it before somebody does,” Thomas said.He eased his left leg beneath the table and reached for the list of repairs. Elena took the invitation from Maya and placed it beside the unpaid bills. They had agreed to ask Evelyn about security before answering. For now, the shop needed their attention more than the banquet did.Kael watched Thomas rub the side of his knee. The earlier treatments had brought back feeling and allowed him to stand for short periods, but the damaged nerve still failed to carry instructions properly. Thomas had learned to work around that failure. He checked where his foot landed before shifting his weight, and he never stepped away from the counter without knowing what he could grab.“There may be enough energy to continue the

“Recognizing the energy doesn't tell us who delivered the envelope,” Evelyn said. “We'll compare it with what we recovered from the station.”Maya sat back from the school meeting table. Her scholarship decision lay inside her folder, but she kept looking at the clear sleeve holding the complaint.“I know what I felt,” she replied.“I believe you,” Evelyn said. “That gives us something to examine. It doesn't mean you have to solve the rest.”Kael agreed. Damian had carried power others had handled and used long before Maya encountered him. The trace might connect the complaint to that work without proving Damian had written a word of it.He told Elena the same thing on the way home. She listened, then asked Evelyn to keep them informed before anyone approached the family again.Two evenings later, the complaint remained under investigation. The Coles left the shop together for the banquet at the Crown Meridian Hotel.They had discussed whether to attend. Elena had asked about the exit

Helen reached for the display cover, then stopped before touching it. The officer beside her was still recording.“Photograph the map and secure the relic for examination,” she said. “Mr. Vale will receive a record of everything we take.”Evelyn kept her phone beside the marked circle. Her aunt had looked at the location only once.“You know what’s there,” Evelyn said quietly.Helen glanced at the guests beyond the rail. “We’ll discuss it after the hall is cleared,” she replied.Kael watched Evelyn lower her phone. Neither woman looked at him as Gideon approached to argue about the removal of his property.By the time the last guests left, officers had photographed the display and sealed it for transport. Gideon took his paperwork without withdrawing his accusation. Daniel brought the Coles into a small hotel sitting room, where Thomas could rest his leg away from the departing crowd.Helen asked Evelyn to speak with her in the corridor.Kael stayed beside the open sitting-room door.

The messenger pulled his other foot clear of the light and steadied himself against the staff. Behind him, the opening narrowed until stone filled the frame again.Evelyn kept her pistol raised.“Put the staff down,” she said. “Keep your hands where I can see them.”The man looked at her weapon, then at Kael. His dark coat hung open over a fitted breastplate, and dust covered one side of his face. Kael recognized him before he straightened.Commander Soren Hale had stood on Varyn’s right at Black Sky Peak. While the others attacked, Soren had held the eastern steps and kept Kael’s men from reaching him.Kael moved away from the closed door, placing himself beside Evelyn.“You’ve come a long way from those steps,” he said.Soren studied his face. His gaze passed over the bandaged hand and the arm Kael held close to his ribs.“So it is you,” Soren replied. “The reports described the body, but I thought you would have left it by now.”“Set down the staff,” Kael said.Soren lowered it slow