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"Very specific." Cassian raise his eyebrows briefly.

"I know." She reaches for another book. "What changed first?"

I stare at the spread of evidence. Crops. Animals. Memory. Magic. Movement. "Maybe nothing changed first." They all look at me. I continue slowly. "What if these are all effects?"

"Of what?" Cassian asks.

"I don't know." Rhyven's gaze remains on me. I feel the strange warmth again. Not stronger. Closer. Like standing beside a fire I can't see. I suddenly know he's about to speak. Before his mouth moves.

"Then find the common point." My stomach drops. Not because of the words. Because I knew. He notices my expression. "What?" He asks.

"Nothing."

Again. Damn it. Nyra is already moving pages. "Common point." She murmurs. "Location? Timing? Type of magic?"

Cassian stands. "I'll get population records."

Nyra points toward another shelf. "And migration."

He disappears immediately. Rhyven reaches for the ward reports. I continue staring at him. This is becoming a problem. "You keep looking at me." He says without lifting his eyes.

"I do not."

"You do."

"I was thinking."

"About my face."

I choke. Nyra looks up sharply. Rhyven finally turns toward me. One corner of his mouth moves. Barely. Gods. He knows exactly what he's doing now. "You're insufferable."

"Focus."

"That's rich."

"Vaelith." There. Back to normal. Better. Probably.

By late afternoon the study room looks worse than the Archive did. Books cover the floor. Three chairs have disappeared beneath paper. Nyra has built two additional timelines. Cassian has eaten every biscuit. Rhyven has somehow taken command of categorizing geographic evidence without anyone assigning him the task. I should be annoyed. Instead... It works. Then Cassian finds the map. Not a magical map. A census map. Population density across Varethia and neighboring kingdoms in 417. He places it beside Nyra's reports. We all go quiet. The anomalies aren't random. They form, not a circle. Not exactly. A loose path. From north to west. Then south. A progression.

Rhyven traces the line with one finger. "These happened in order."

Nyra checks the dates. Her face changes. "Yes."

One village. Then another. Then another. Each several days apart.

Cassian whispers, "Like something was moving."

No one answers. Because yes. That is exactly what it looks like. Nyra writes one sentence across the center of the parchment. The event was not spreading. She pauses. Then beneath it: Something was traveling. Silence.

The warmth inside my chest vanishes. Suddenly. So fast that I notice the absence. Rhyven goes completely still. His eyes lift from the map. I feel...Nothing. No irritation. No warmth. No awareness. Nothing at all. My heart kicks painfully. "Rhyven?" His gaze snaps toward me. At the same moment every lamp in the study room flickers. Once. Twice. Then goes dark. Nyra gasps. Cassian swears. The entire library falls silent. Not ordinary silence. Wrong silence. My blood turns cold. No footsteps. No pages. No voices beyond the door. Nothing. Rhyven stands immediately. "Don't move." The words are calm. Too calm. I can't feel him. I can't feel anything. Five seconds. Maybe six. Then— The lamps explode back to life. Sound crashes into the room. Voices. Footsteps. Someone laughing in the corridor. The library breathing again.

The warmth beneath my ribs returns so sharply I inhale. Rhyven looks at me. I look at him. Neither of us speaks. Nyra is staring at the lamps.

Cassian at the door. "What the hell was that?"

No answer. Rhyven's eyes remain on mine. Something unspoken passes between us. He felt it. Or rather...He felt it disappear. Just like I did. A professor rushes into the study room. "Everyone alright?"

"Yes." Nyra answers immediately. "What happened?" "Power fluctuation." The professor looks toward the lamps. "Probably nothing." Probably. That word has become useless. He leaves. No one returns to the books. Not immediately.