“It’s hers,” I say quietly.
The wind stirs again through the ruined temple, carrying the faint scent of rot from somewhere deep beneath the roots.
Now, we are not chasing suspicion. We are holding proof.
27
ZEIDAN
The black market beneath Nytheria does not advertise itself. It breathes. Beneath the polished streets and ceremonial gardens, below the glow of sanctioned lanterns and lawful trade, there is another network of corridors carved through old root systems and abandoned ley channels. The air down here smells of oil, damp stone, and desperation disguised as enterprise.
I walk alone. Not because Amelia insisted. Because I did. If this thread leads where I suspect, I do not want her anywhere near the first unraveling.
The bond hums faintly as I descend, aware but restrained. She knows I am in the lower districts. She does not press.
I appreciate that more than she understands.
The informant waits in a shuttered apothecary that officially burned down three years ago. The sign above the door still hangs crooked. The windows are boarded from the outside. Inside, lanternlight flickers against rows of empty shelves.
He flinches when I close the door behind me. He is not Purna. Not Vrakken. Human-blooded, thin, with ink-stainedfingers and the permanent twitch of someone who has sold too much and trusted too little.
“You said it was urgent,” he mutters.
“It is,” I reply.
He studies me, recognition dawning slowly. Fear follows immediately.
“You’re—”
“Yes.”
His swallow is audible.
“I don’t deal in politics,” he says quickly.
“I am not here for politics.”
I step closer. The temperature shifts without visible cause.
“I am here about procurement routes operating along the eastern root tunnels.”
He stiffens.
“I don’t know what?—”
“You do,” I say quietly. “And you will decide very quickly whether this conversation ends with coin or consequence.”
He exhales shakily.
“It’s not assassination,” he blurts. “Not primarily.”
That word lands carefully.
“Primarily,” I repeat.
“There’s a ring,” he says. “Selective acquisition. Magical assets.”
“Define assets.”
