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"Open your eyes."

"I refuse." Caelen pushes a cup toward him. Cassian smells it. "Coffee?"

"Tea."

He looks offended. "Then what exactly is the point?"

Rhyven stands at the end of the table. Arms crossed. Hair still disordered. Nyra explains. First reference.

Second. Third. The disappearing terminology. Nobody interrupts. Even Cassian eventually opens both eyes. When Nyra finishes, silence.

Then Cassian says: "So there's a giant magical heart under the Academy."

Nyra stares. "That is not remotely what I said."

"It's what I heard."

"You heard incorrectly."

"Frequently."

Caelen rubs his face. "What do we actually know?"

Nyra points toward the papers. "That the term existed."

"That's it?"

"Yes."

Cassian leans back. "Excellent investigation."

Nyra's eyes narrow. "Do you want to go back to bed?"

"Yes."

"Then go."

"No. Now I'm invested."

Rhyven finally moves. He takes the first document.

Reads. Then the second. Then the third. "What does 'Heart' mean in older Varethian dialect?"

Nyra looks at him. "Several things."

"Such as."

"Center. Core. Seat. Sometimes source." That word hangs there. Source.

Rhyven looks down again. "Also symbolic?"

"Yes."

"Religious?"

"Occasionally."

"Geographic?"