Page 117 of Maksym

“The glamour would keep them from identifying the building correctly,” Bohdan said.

Grace glanced at him. “But they could still record approaches, vehicles, faces entering places they can’t later describe.”

“Yes,” I said.

Her mouth compressed.

Shad continued. “The witch security teams are determining what, if anything, was captured. Devices recovered so far have corrupted images, as expected, but the concern is not photographs alone. Timelines. Patterns. Staff schedules. Supply access. Daylight movement.”

“Who recovered devices?” I asked.

“Witch teams and human-facing security. Quietly. No exposure.”

“Good.”

The word contained none of what I felt.

Lucian had sent eyes to my club in daylight. Human eyes. Disposable eyes. He had come himself at night to test the boundaries of my absence. If he wanted to know whether Grace had fled to me, he had gone looking for the crack in the wall.

He would find stone.

“What did he ask you directly?”

Shad’s posture did not change.

“He requested an audience with the king.”

“Your response?”

“I informed him His Majesty was out of the city for a few weeks.”

Bohdan’s brows lifted slightly.

“A few weeks,” he repeated.

Shad’s expression remained grave. “Specific enough to irritate. Vague enough to be useless.”

My brother looked pleased despite himself.

“Lucian pressed,” Shad sounded irritated. “He asked whether your absence was related to court business, family business, western territorial concerns, or an unscheduled visit to Philadelphia.”

Grace’s fingers curled at her sides.

Lucian knew enough to name the direction of travel. Or he guessed because our family’s gravity always pointed back to my father. Either way, he had placed Philadelphia into the room.

“And you said?” I asked.

Shad’s gray eyes met mine through the screen.

“I informed him that the travel itinerary of the sovereign was of no concern of lessers.”

For one beat, silence held.

Then Grace muttered under her breath and with feeling, “I bet Lucian was thrilled with the dismissal.”

Bohdan looked at her.

Shad’s mouth almost moved.