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My throat tightens almost imperceptibly. “Yes, my lord.”

“And Isolde?”

I stop before the doorway.

His voice softens just enough to become dangerous. “If he approaches you again, you will not conceal it from me.”

I meet his gaze because looking away now would be worse.

“Of course.”

The lie leaves my mouth smoothly.

Vaerith smiles as though he believes it, which means he either does not or he is choosing to enjoy the performance.

When he dismisses me, I leave the mirror gallery with my pace measured and my skin cold beneath my sleeves.

Mira waits outside the archive corridor without even pretending to work this time. She has abandoned the linens entirely. That alone tells me how frightened she is.

“Well?” she whispers the instant I reach her.

“He knows enough to be interested.”

“That is bad.”

“He engineered Talen’s confrontation.”

Mira’s face drains of color in stages. “That is worse.”

“He wants me to assess Corin’s triggers.”

For a moment she only stares at me. Then she looks toward the ceiling as if appealing to gods neither of us trusts.

“Wonderful,” she mutters. “The poisonous spider has assigned the fly to write a report on webs.”

“I am not the fly.”

“Do not make me insult you while I am worried.”

I unlock the archive room and pull her inside before any passing servant notices our faces.

The room closes around us in dry darkness and old paper. Shelves rise from floor to ceiling, crowded with ledgers, contract rolls, sealed case studies, and generations of noble sins organized alphabetically. I light the desk lamp with a touch to the runestone, and amber glow spills across the nearest table.

Mira shuts the door behind us and folds her arms tightly. “What do we do?”

“We find the old cases.”

“What old cases?”

“Hybrid destabilization. Adaptive contract survival. Bloodline anchors.”

Her expression stills completely.

“Bloodline what?”

I move toward the restricted cabinet. “Most hybrids die. The infernal structure overwhelms the mortal vessel, or the mortal soul rejects the graft. Surviving cases require a stabilizing variable.”

“You think Corin has one.”