It was unbearable.
The familiar chill of his realm's twilight felt stark after Caelum's manufactured paradise. Dante dismissed the attending servants with a gesture, his shadows coiling restlessly around his feet.
The visit had left him on edge. Caelum's evidence had been too perfect, his hospitality too warm, his offer to Brynn too pointed.
My domain is always open to you. You deserve peace after everything you've endured.
Caelum had seen her vulnerability. The grief she carried, the exhaustion from sleepless nights. He'd offered her exactly what she needed most.
Refuge. Light.
Everything Dante's domain couldn't provide.
He led her toward his study without a word, holding the door open when they arrived. She swept past him without acknowledgment, and even that small rejection cut deeper than it should have.
Maps and reports cluttered his desk, but now they had Caelum'sdocumentation to add. Evidence that painted a clear picture of Seraphina's guilt.
Too clear.
Brynn moved to the desk, spreading out the documents. "This is exactly what we needed." Her voice carried the first optimism he'd heard in days. Optimism she'd shown Caelum, not him. "Concrete proof, witness testimony, a clear timeline."
Dante settled into his chair, studying her face rather than the evidence. She looked less exhausted than she had this morning. The golden light had brought color back to her cheeks and eased the tension in her shoulders.
Made her smile at someone who wasn't him.
"Caelum was very thorough," he said slowly.
"Aren't you pleased?" She looked up, challenge in her eyes. "His documentation gives us everything we need."
"Answers every question we might ask." He leaned back, shadows shifting around him. "Perhaps too neatly."
Brynn straightened, arms crossing. "You think he's lying?"
"I think he had explanations ready for everything. Convenient evidence pointing clearly at Seraphina."
"And that's suspicious?" Frustration sharpened her voice. "We finally have proof, and you're dismissing it because it answers our questions?"
His jaw tightened. Maybe he was looking for problems where none existed. Maybe his instincts were being clouded by the way Caelum had looked at her. The way she'd responded to his warmth.
The way she'd relaxed in that paradise like she'd finally found somewhere she belonged.
"His offer was inappropriate," he said finally.
"What offer?" Her frustration shifted to confusion. "The archive access?"
"He offered you a place in his domain." The words came out rougher than intended.
"He offered me access to research materials." Her voice went cold. "And maybe a chance to be somewhere that isn't drowning in eternal twilight and suffering souls. Somewhere I'm actually wanted."
The accusation hit harder than it should have.
"And you think that makes his evidence suspect?" she continued, eyes flashing. "Because he treated me like a person instead of a problem? Because he was kind to me?"
His shadows recoiled.
"Or maybe," Brynn said, stepping closer, wielding her anger like a weapon, "you can't stand that someone else showed me basic consideration. Maybe watching me smile at him reminded you that you've done nothing but push me away since the moment I arrived."
"That's not?—"
