Result: Motion Voted Forward
End of Session
These notes are private. They will not be entered into official record. Filed under false compliance, beneath the cushion I stole from Zeera’s divan. How many years have passed since I began keeping these journals? It seems like ages ago when I discovered this hollowed-out passage. I yearn to add my voice to the Resh’Agar’s, but doing so would make a target of me.
Am I prepared to face not only the petty abuse of the Companions but to carry the weight of the Council’s disapproval?
—Auryn
11
Strange Warmth
The crawlspace was tighter than she remembered.
Dust clung to her tunic, her curls, the crease of her elbows. She pulled herself forward with quiet, measured breaths, careful not to jostle the thin bundle of notes she’d tucked into her sash. Her knees ached. A stone's edge scraped her thigh through the fabric as she dropped to the lower exit hatch, boots slipping on the sloped stone.
But she was smiling.
None had sensed the Sokâr crouched like a shadow in the rafters, bearing witness as she had done for nearly thirty years now. If the Council knew she’d been keeping secret records of their meetings for that long, they would have had conniptions. She would especially love to see Councilor Sevrion Hale writhing on the floor in shock at the revelation.
Auryn brushed grit from her palms and tucked her hair behind her ear, heart thumping with the adrenaline of triumph. Now she needed to make it back to the Resh’Agar’s wing without being seen. She squeezed into the service corridor beyond the tunnel, dropped into the final passageway…
And stopped.
Dead still.
Boots. Black. Armored. Planted like a warning at the tunnel’s mouth. Gleaming with faint residual heat, as though he’d used Raido to gethere. She couldn’t see past his knees due to the stone, and for a moment, Auryn scooted backwards and stayed where she was.
“Starlight,” came his voice, sharp at the edges. Warning.
She bit her lip, but stayed silent.
Do you honestly think I don’t see you hiding there?
She flinched when his gauntlet-covered hand appeared under the ledge. Sighing, she took it and let him help her out into the corridor. Somehow, he looked sharper than he had at Council. Dust hadn’t dared settle on him. Meanwhile, she was covered in it. Her stomach dropped as her gaze traveled up his frame, inch by inch, toward that perfectly still face.
Eyes like blue flame. Jaw clenched. Shoulders drawn tight beneath his half-fastened battle cloak with the Resh’Agar’s crest blazing over his shoulder.
His eyes roved over her.
The silenceboomed.
“If your plan was to perch above the Council in secret while lying to your Bonded about resting,” he said, his voice too soft, “perhaps you should have silenced your restless thoughts first.”
A pause. His tone dipped—low and warning.
“They echoed. All the way throughmy spine.”
Auryn’s mouth opened, a flush creeping up her neck. “I—I didn’t mean to—”
“You didn’tmeanto…what?” he cut in, stepping closer.
She took a step back, but there was nowhere to go. She straightened her spine and met his eyes.
“What do you mean Bonded?” she asked, hoping to steer him away from the obvious.
Is that not what you are to me, sweetfire?
