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He waited.

“I want to work on the audit.”

“The investigation.”

“The records.”

I leaned forward. “Compatibility histories. Sample transfers. Reassignments. Archive changes. I want to see where the records stop matching each other.”

Anik studied me. “That will involve restricted material.”

“Yes.”

“Possibly royal lineage.”

“I already saw that.”

His mouth tightened slightly. Fair.

“Military records.”

“Yes.”

“Human reproductive histories.”

“Yes.”

“Some of what you find may be difficult.”

I thought about the women whose lives might have been redirected by numbers they never saw.

“I know.”

“What authority do you want?”

That question surprised me almost as much as the first.

“Authority?”

“If you are part of the audit, define the role.”

I looked at him. He was serious.

I thought about Sera’n fighting to keep my access. About being useful only when someone higher-ranking defended the fact that I was useful.

“I don’t want to be somebody’s assistant.”

Anik said nothing.

“I don’t mean I need to run the investigation.”

“Then what do you mean?”

“I mean if I find a discrepancy, I don’t want to need permission from the same department I’m auditing to follow it.”

His gaze didn’t soften, but something in it shifted—a fractional lowering of the shoulders, a subtle stillness where before there had been only administrative focus.

“I want cross-system access.”