"Watching you turn Daiven into paste in front of the entire Concord?" His grin is sharp. "Absolutely. I've been wanting someone to do that for years."
The street outside is too bright. Too loud. My skull is still full of static, the lies from the chamber clinging like smoke, and underneath it all that constant pull north.
"So," Renan says, matching my pace. "The mortal."
"What about her."
"Nothing. Just noting that you threatened Coin's representative, exposed a six-month smuggling operation, and beat a man half to death. All because he touched her." His mouth curves. "Subtle. Very subtle. No one noticed."
"Fuck off."
"Everyone noticed. I'm pretty sure Faith's procurist is going to need new undergarments."
We're entering Discord territory now. The streets narrow, the buildings get older, and the people who live here look at me with the particular wariness reserved for their own mad god. A woman steps out of our path. A child stares at me from a doorway until his mother yanks him inside.
The cobblestones tilt downward here. Everything does. The city descends by inches until you realize you've been walking into the earth for blocks. Buildings lean against each other, stone faces dark with soot and age, their foundations sunk unevenly into ground that gave way centuries ago when my chains shattered. Oil lamps hang from iron hooks, their light yellow and thick, and the air tastes different—colder, heavier, carrying the mineral bite of the deep rivers that run beneath us.
No temples. No gilded facades. Discord doesn't decorate.
A drunk stumbles out of a doorway, sees me, and goes still. His hand drifts toward the knife at his belt—instinct, not threat—and then he presses himself against the wall and lets me pass.
My cock is still half-hard. The ache hasn't faded. Every step reminds me—she's farther behind me now, I'm walking the wrong direction, the pull is getting worse instead of better.
"She didn't lie," I say. Don't mean to say it.
Renan glances at me. "The mortal?"
"Iowyn."
"You know her name."
"I heard it."
"You remembered it." He processes that. "She didn't lie how? Everyone lies."
"Not her. Not once." The words scrape out. "The entire chamber was full of people performing, posturing, playing their fucking games. And she just... wasn't."
Renan is silent for a moment. "Huh."
"Don't."
"I didn't say anything."
"You were about to."
"I was going to say 'huh' again, but with more implications."
We reach Discord headquarters. The guards step aside. Up the stairs. Through the door to my private rooms.
It closes behind us.
Renan leans against the wall and watches me go to my desk. Reports are stacked there—intelligence summaries, threat assessments..
I sit down. Pick up the first report.
Coin's trade routes through the northern passage have shown increased activity—
I set it down. Pick up another.
