The air hissed, a sound like a candle being snuffed out. Her magic collided with my shield and dissipated into a wisp of grey smoke.
She pulled her hand back, gaze sharpening. A hint of genuine surprise crossed her face—followed by delight.
“Still so guarded,” she murmured, rubbing her fingertip. “What are you afraid I’ll find, Riven? That you haven’t found the sourceof the surges? Or that you have… and you’re keeping it for yourself?”
“I report to Korenth,” I said. “Not you.”
“Semantics.” She rested her elbows on the counter, turning to face me fully. “Korenth thinks the problem is in the Lows. Scattered interference. But I’ve been looking at the data from two weeks ago.”
My heart hammered against my ribs—once, hard—but I kept my face stone.
“The spike in the Old Quarter,” she said softly. “The residential grid. It was a beacon, Riven, not a simple tremor.”
She smiled, a slow, predatory thing.
“I’ve narrowed the search radius. Whoever—or whatever—lit up that grid is powerful. Raw. And they are slipping up.”
I forced myself to take a sip of the coffee, masking the terror tangling in my gut.
The Old Quarter—where Selene lived.
“Legacy noise,” I lied, dismissing it. “The district is full of old wards degrading. It happens.”
“Perhaps,” she said, her eyes gleaming. “Or perhaps someone is hiding there.”
She leaned closer, her voice dropping to a whisper.
“Which brings me to the other rumours. I hear you’ve been assigned a partner. A female detective. From the MCIU.”
She watched my pupils. She watched the throb in my neck. She was hunting for a flinch.
“Detective Rowan,” I stated, forcing the name to sound like nothing. Like dust. “A requirement of the liaison protocol. A distraction.”
“A distraction.” She tasted the word, rolling it around her mouth. “I hear she’s… persistent. Resentful. Still sniffing around the Calysteri files even after the ACD took them away.”
“Insignificant,” I corrected. “She is a tool. Nothing more.”
The lie burned like bile in my throat.
I forced myself to meet her stare, hunting for a hint of disbelief. She watched me with absolute stillness. Her smile stayedfixed, framing the cold calculation in her eyes. She accepted the answer for the moment, filing the suspicion away for later.
Varessia smiled. “Good.”
She straightened, the oppressive chill lifting just fractionally as she stepped away from the counter.
“Because if she were significant,” she said, walking towards the door, her heels clicking on the hardwood, “I might have to take a closer look. And you know what happens when I take an interest in your pets.”
She paused at the threshold, glancing back over her shoulder.
“Don’t make me visit her, Riven. She looks… fragile.”
The door clicked shut.
Silence rushed back in, but the sensation remained.
My control fractured.
I slammed my hand down on the island. The marble cracked—a spiderweb fracture spreading out from my fist under the force of the blow. My breath left me in a shaky gasp. The shadows I had held back rose up, swirling violently around my legs, agitated, responding to the threat.
