2026-09-08 01:01:43Seraphina's knees folded.
Allen caught her before she could hit the floor. Allen locked an arm around her waist. His other hand caught her hip through her soft white cotton nightgown, taking the weight before her legs lost the rest of it. Her breath jumped against his shoulder. The drop had been small, but his stomach still tightened at how quickly her legs had vanished beneath her. He kept his grip firm until he felt the mattress under her again.<
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46 | The Cinder Quarry
The south yard smelled of horse sweat, oiled leather, and hot dust. Allen spotted the party before anyone called his name. A broad man with a compact shield stood beside a dispatch wagon, checking the straps on his sword belt. A woman leaned on a long spear near the equipment rack. The last Hunter, younger than the other 2, had a bow across his back and was trying to tighten a glove with his teeth. The shieldman looked up first. "Allen?" "Yeah." "Garran." He tapped his own chest, then pointed without ceremony. "Brenna. Pell. Badge." Allen pulled his jacket open just enough to show the D-rank badge at his left chest. Garran's eyes dropped to it, then to Allen's empty hands. "Weapon?" "Stored." "Briefing?" Allen touched the inner pocket. "Good. I take front. Brenna works behind my left. Pell stays rear unless I move him. Don't cross his line when he has the bow up." "Got it." Brenna looked Allen over from boots to jacket and snorted. "Guild really sent us a D-rank in a nic
45 | A Gate Worth Taking
The first posting Allen dismissed paid well enough to waste several days.D-tier escort. Merchant road. Long hours, fat travel allowance, and not much chance of anything trying hard enough to matter.He left it on the board.2 Hunters beside him were having the opposite problem. They'd been arguing over the same escort since Allen walked into the hall, mostly about who deserved the travel allowance and who smelled bad enough to ride behind the wagon.Someone at a desk shouted for a missing signature. Boots scraped across stone. A woman near the entrance swore when a rolled map slipped under her arm.The Guild was awake.Allen kept reading.An E-tier extermination near the west farms. Easy money. Easier record.He hadn't pushed through the D-rank practical just to spend days watching wagon wheels or chasing pests from a field. He wanted work that could move his Level and leave the Guild something real to record.<
44 | Her Old Eyes
By evening, Seraphina was back at the table. The wheelchair brakes were locked, her feet settled on the footrests. Her blue shawl rested over the shoulders of her pale-blue dress. Her right hand lay on the armrest. The left rested in her lap, quiet for now. Allen stopped beside his chair and looked at that hand. Her violet eyes lifted to his. "You've had time to rest," he said. "Still want to show me?" She nodded, slight but immediate. "All right." He shrugged out of his jacket. The small D-rank badge stayed pinned to the left chest as he hung the jacket on the wall peg. Then he stepped behind the right side of her wheelchair and bent close. His lips brushed the edge of her jaw just beneath her right ear. Seraphina tipped her head a little toward him before he straightened. Allen went to the hearth and picked up the scrap of cloth resting
43 | The Line That Should Not Move
Allen bent closer to the page. The amendment looked harmless enough. A line of old ink, a correction beside it, another date farther down the sequence. He'd seen uglier paperwork buying flour. Seraphina wasn't looking at the amendment anymore. Her violet eyes had shifted up the sheet. Allen followed her gaze, read the line above it, then another. Nothing. He looked at her. "Earlier?" She nodded. The records clerk clicked her tongue from across the table. "Hands off." Allen glanced down. His palm was still planted on bare wood. "I'm not touching your page." "You walked into my archive carrying charcoal. I don't trust your definition of touching." His right trouser pocket held the wrapped stub like evidence against him. "It's house charcoal. Very respectable." Seraphina's lips twi
42 | Her Name on the Record
Allen caught the edge of Seraphina's shawl before it reached the wheel. He tucked the blue cloth back over her lap and smoothed the pale blue skirt clear of the wheel, then pressed his thumb against the brake release. Nothing snagged. 'Fine.' Seraphina watched him from the chair with a patient look that somehow made the extra check feel accused. "Don't start." The corner of her mouth lifted. Allen leaned down and kissed the crown of her silver hair. Her right hand rose and closed around his wrist. A small squeeze. Warm, deliberate. "Ready?" She nodded. "Good. We're going." He released the brakes and pushed the wheelchair through the front door. Morning light lay across the uneven stone. Shop shutters stood open, carts rattled past, and the smell of hot bre
41 | F to D
Allen's right fingers rested against the old F-rank badge in his trouser pocket when the clerk held out a hand. "Old badge." The senior evaluator stood on the other side of the counter with Allen's challenge record tucked under his arm. The D-rank badge from the evaluation sat beside the clerk's ledger, still just out of Allen's reach. Allen took the F-rank badge from his pocket, turned it over between his fingers, then placed it in the waiting palm. The clerk looked at him. "That's it?" "You want a farewell speech?" A Hunter leaning against the next section of counter coughed into his fist. The evaluator's mouth twitched. "Please don't encourage him." "I'm trying to finish before lunch," the clerk said. "The
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