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Had this side corridor recently become Vanderwood’s secret traffic hub?

“Alarik,” Bastien murmured, but it sounded neither hostile nor friendly.

Alarik pulled me aside by my arm, toward him, and I felt like a chess piece on a confusing game board. That wasn’t even far from the truth. They were playing over this town. All of them. And we, their descendants, were moved back and forth daily for their benefit.

“She is under the protection of the pack,” Alarik murmured, staring intently at Bastien, who looked back and forth between Alarik and me.

“What's the meaning of this?”

I thought I detected a hint of confusion in the DUIO agent’s expression.

Alarik lowered his voice. “She's one of us.”

Bastien's eyes started glowing again.

“We both know that's not true.”

Confused, I blinked at Alarik, whose right eyebrow twitched slightly, as if he were struggling with himself.

My gaze drifted to his hand, which rested warmly around my wrist. His grip was gentle, as if he were afraid of hurting me.

“Please leave the campus now,” he finally said matter-of-factly, though with unusual tension.

Bastien remained silent for some heavy seconds, and the two of them stared at each other until the tension in the air between us seemed to reach a new high. I was already fearing that they would go for each other's throats, but finally Bastien took a step back and looked at me indecisively.

His gaze wandered down my arm, and I followed it, came to a halt at my wrist, at Alarik’s elegant, vein-covered fingers, one of which seemed to twitch slightly, before he suddenly let go of my arm.

Bastien looked up again.

“Alarik...” he murmured. “If you know anything, you should let me know.” He paused, and it seemed as if he was lost in thought. “You know Diana. She continued researching Alaister’s project.”

Wait... what?

“And I don’t think it's any of our business,” Alarik muttered.

He seemed to be getting impatient. And my thoughts wandered to my mother.

She had continued researching. On a project by Alaister.

The fact that Bastien knew about it could mean that he was referring to the research project at the DLSC for which Mum had used the protocol from back then.

“Diana is with the Quatura.” Alarik ran his fingers through his hair, messing up his entire hairstyle. “She is accused of high treason.”

Did I detect confusion in Bastien's expression? For the first time, he seemed not quite himself.

“Diana…” he began, but that was enough for me. The two men were talking as if I weren't there.

“How do you know my mother?”

I knew the answer. But I wanted to hear his version.

Both men looked at me first and then at each other, as if they had just realized that they had spilled a lot of information in front of someone who wasn’t supposed to know anything.

Alarik lowered his voice. “Bayla, you should leave now.”

There was something in his gaze that I couldn't interpret. Something he wasn't telling me. He looked as if someone had slapped him.

Perhaps I could demand the truth from my mother, but not from him.