"War teaches efficiency." Seraphina shrugged like she'd designed these traps personally. "Pretty corridors don't stop enemies."
Dante said nothing. He'd fallen into step behind her when the corridor narrowed, close enough that the cold radiating off him brushed against her back.
She caught the way his eyes moved over every feature, every potential threat. Assessing. Calculating. His shadows stayed tight against his boots, coiled and ready.
At least one of them was focused on the actual danger here.
They passed through doors into a chamber that felt different from the rest of the fortress. The walls were carved with symbols that pulsed with energy. Ward-magic, old and powerful, hummed against her skin like static.
At the center stood a ward-stone nearly eight feet tall, itscrystalline surface shot through with veins of red that matched the desert stone outside.
Even from the doorway, Brynn could see fractures spiderwebbing across the surface in patterns that made her skin prickle.
"There." Seraphina jerked her chin toward the stone. "See what your expertise makes of that."
Dante positioned himself where he could observe both the stone and Seraphina. The same way he'd positioned himself in the throne room.
"When did this damage first appear?" His voice was cool, professional.
"When do you think?" Seraphina's smile turned edged. "Your pet claims to understand this magic. Let her tell us."
Pet.Brynn's jaw tightened, but she let it go. Not worth the ammunition. And rising to the bait would only prove Seraphina right about her.
She approached the stone, aware that every movement was being judged. Scarring radiated from several points across the matrix, forming a web that she recognized immediately.
She'd seen this signature before. In the Forsaken domain, in the emergency repairs they'd made. The saboteur's work.
But admitting that now would be foolish.
"The damage suggests stress over time." She let her hand hover along the crystal surface. Not touching, not revealing how much she actually understood. "But I'd need to examine the residue to determine specifics."
"Would you now?" Seraphina moved closer. "And what makes you think I'll let you put your mortal hands on my ward-stone?"
"Because you brought us here to survey the damage," Dante said, his voice carrying an edge that made the guards by the door shift their weight.
Brynn glanced at him. The tension along his jaw. The stillness in his body. Fighting his instincts. Letting her handle this but coiled to intervene.
She looked away before Seraphina could read anything in her face.
"I brought you here to see if your little thief could recognize what she was looking at." Seraphina's tone was designed to provoke. "So far, she's managing basic observations. Impressive for a mortal, though."
Impressive for a mortal.High praise from someone who collected corpses as décor.
Brynn kept her focus on the ward-stone. Her fingers curled against the crystal.
"The damage is unusual," she said. "I'd need to touch the stone to understand more."
"Unusual how?"
She chose her words with care. "The breaks follow lines in the structure rather than spreading randomly. It suggests targeted stress points."
"Targeted." Seraphina's laugh held no humor. "Such an interesting word choice. Are you suggesting someone deliberately damaged my ward-stone?"
The trap was set. Admitting their suspicions to a potential saboteur would be foolish, but refusing to answer might end their investigation before it started.
She could feel Dante's attention on her back. Waiting. Trusting her to navigate this.
"I'm suggesting the damage warrants examination," she said, threading the needle between truth and caution.
