Chapter 41 #2
Damon waited beneath a suspended globe of pale Light with a document box and an untouched plate of food. He looked up, took in my face, then glanced behind me. “You came alone. Either you’ve become more trusting or you’ve had an irritating morning.”
“I came for the registry.”
“Yes. The complete absence of delight made that clear.” He pushed the box across the table. “Duplicate palace registry. Disappointingly incomplete.”
I opened it. “Historical incompetence appears to have been a cultural practice.”
“Careful. Half the Council descends from the people you’re insulting.”
“That explains a great deal.”
His mouth curved. “There she is.”
I ignored him. For nearly an hour, we worked through a damaged household registry, inheritance indexes, sealed palace authorizations, and a list of chambers whose designations had been removed after the royal line fell.
Halfway through the second registry, I found the private suite number Vareena and I had seen in the restoration records.
Restricted under household seal. Duplicate retained outside palace custody.
My heart kicked. “Please tell me outside palace custody means something more useful than another missing box.”
Damon came around the table. “Unfortunately, it means precisely that with more expensive paperwork.”
“Where is the duplicate?”
“The western repository. I requested it this morning. It should have arrived by now.”
“Should have.”
“Yes. I heard it too.” He returned to his chair but watched me instead of the page. “You’re genuinely angry.”
“I thought we established that.”
“I thought you were irritated. You’re usually irritated.”
“That sounds dangerously close to concern.”
“Concern requires affection.”
“Good.”
He smiled faintly. I kept reading, then asked, “If the duplicate comes back, who decides whether I see it?”
“I do, assuming it falls beneath my authority.”
“And if you decide I shouldn’t?”
“I tell you I’m not releasing it.”
I looked up. “You’d actually tell me it existed.”
His brow furrowed. “Of course.”
“Even if you thought I was safer not knowing?”
Understanding came over his face. “Ah.”
“Don’t.”
“I wasn’t going to mention Nyxara.”
“You were thinking it loudly.”
“That accusation belongs with a telepath.”
My mouth almost curved.
Damon leaned back. “No. I wouldn’t hide a record because I thought you were emotionally unprepared for your own life. I have authority over Council property. I have no authority over what another adult is prepared to know. People become dangerous when they confuse the two.”
The words struck hard enough that I looked back down. He let the silence sit.
Then the archive clerk entered without the box. “Councilor Vale, there’s a problem with the western duplicate.”
Damon stood. “What problem?”
“The repository marked it as collected yesterday afternoon.”
My fingers stopped.
“The request wasn’t scheduled until today,” Damon said.
“That is the issue. There is no claimant attached to the collection mark.”
Cold crawled over my skin.
Damon read the intake slip. “You checked the repository?”
“Yes. The box is still there. Seal intact.”
“So someone entered a completed collection before anyone collected it.”
“Yes.”
His gaze snapped to mine. “You’ve seen this before.”
I considered lying. “The same irregularity appeared in another archive three days ago. A request with no claimant.”
“Which archive?”
“I’m not giving you that.”
His jaw tightened. “Was it related material?”
“Enough that I recognized this.”
Damon studied me, then turned to the clerk. “Seal the western duplicate under my authorization. No release, transfer, or copying. Pull ten days of collection entries. Anything missing a claimant, entered before physical release, or corrected afterward.”
“I can have it tomorrow.”
“Tonight.”
The clerk hesitated, then nodded.
“Keep the inquiry out of the standard ledger until we know whether the ledger itself is compromised.”
When the clerk left, I stared at him. “You just bypassed normal archive procedure.”
“I prefer temporarily preventing normal procedure from informing whoever is abusing it.”
“Kieran would be delighted.”
Damon gave me a long look. “Judging by your face, invoking Nyxara today is dangerous.”
“When is it not?”
“You should report this to Halos.”
“No.”
“That was quick.”
“He spent yesterday determining whether I’m dangerous enough to contain. I’m not volunteering for another opportunity to be contained for my own good.”
“I think that’s a mistake.”
“I assumed you would.”
“But I’m not summoning him behind your back.”
I looked at him.
“That should not be remarkable.”
“You would be surprised.”
“No,” Damon said. “I suspect I wouldn’t.” He gathered the intake slips. “One piece of unsolicited advice?”
“That depends.”
“Spend less time around men who believe competence grants ownership over everyone else’s decisions.”
I stared at him.
His mouth twitched. “That silence suggests I found the argument.”
“Careful. You’re becoming perceptive.”
“Occupational hazard.”
I packed the copies. Damon did not stop me when I left.
Kieran was waiting on the bridge between the western halls and the central Sanctum. Of course he was. No book. No papers. No candidate being terrorized under the pretense of instruction. Just Kieran. Waiting. His Shadow gathered beneath the balustrade in one contained line.
I kept walking.
His eyes dropped to the transcript case. “You went to the Council wing.”
“That lacked the warmth of a greeting.”
“Where is Vareena?”
“Advanced Light work.”
His jaw tightened. “So you went alone.”
“I went to an archive full of clerks, guards, wards, and Damon. I did not wander naked into the Hollowlands.”
“That comparison helps you very little.”
“I’m going to supper.”
I stepped around him. He moved with me.
“Do not do this here.”
“I spent an hour discovering Vareena lied about where you were while you disappeared into the exact archive system we know is compromised.”
“She knew exactly where I was.”
“I did not.”
“And apparently the Sanctum rotates around your knowledge now.”
His anger sharpened. “Do you have any idea what I would have done if you hadn’t come back?”
“Made everyone within five miles miserable?”
“I would have gone through the Council wing room by room until I found you.”
The sarcasm died. He meant it. “That would start a diplomatic incident.”
“I have started worse for considerably less.”
No boast. That made it more frightening.
“What happened?” he asked.
“The western duplicate was marked collected before Damon’s clerk reached it. No claimant. The box was still there.”
Kieran’s eyes went cold. “When?”
“Yesterday afternoon.”
“Before the request?”
“Yes.”
“What did Vale do?”
“Sealed it and ordered a ten-day review.”
“Who knows?”
“Damon, the clerk, me. Now you.”
“Halos?”
“No.”
“Good.”
I blinked.
“Halos has too many people moving through his office. If someone is exploiting administrative channels, widening the circle is stupid.” I hated that I agreed. He held out his hand. “Let me see the copies.”
I looked at it. Then him.
“What?”
“You didn’t ask.”
“Lyra.”
“That also isn’t asking.”
His jaw flexed. I waited.
“May I see the damned copies?”
“See? Teachable.”
“I am reconsidering several things I taught you.”
I handed him the case. Halfway down the second page, his thumb stopped. “What?”
“The authorization sequence is wrong.”
“How?”
“The Council uses a different date order internally. Whoever copied this used the older Sanctum sequence.”
My irritation disappeared. “Like the anonymous request?”
“Possibly.” His eyes lifted. “You are not going back.”
There it was. Not I don’t think you should. Not please don’t. A decree.
“I knew we were getting along too well.”
“I’m serious.”
“So am I. If that duplicate becomes available, I’m going back.”
“No.”
I laughed without humor. “Repeating yourself does not increase your authority.”
“I’m making sure there is no confusion.”
“There isn’t. You decided the archive is dangerous, so my opinion ceased to matter.”
“You walked into a compromised Council archive without telling me.”
“My daily movements do not require reporting to you.”
“They do when someone may be using them to build a trap.”
A chill slid over my skin. “What exactly are you threatening?”
“I’m not threatening you.”
“You’re telling me where I’m allowed to go.”
“I’m telling you there are other ways to get the information.”
“The records are there.”
“Then they wait.”
“No. Danger has been appearing since Edenlo.”
“And somehow you decided repeated exposure makes you immortal.”
“I decided it makes me tired of hiding.”
“This is not hiding.”
“Then what is it?”
“Surviving long enough to understand what the hell is happening.”
“And who decides when I’m trusted with my own decisions?”
Kieran placed the case on the balustrade. “If you try to enter the restricted western archives again before we know who is manipulating those records, I will have your access suspended.”
For several seconds, I couldn’t speak. “You would actually use your position against me.”
“Yes.”
No hesitation. No apology.
“I would use every tool available to keep you out of a place I believe someone may be preparing specifically for you.”
“That is not better.”
“I wasn’t trying to make it sound better.”
Heat rose in my chest. “You bastard.”
“If that’s the name you need tonight, I’ve survived worse.”
I stepped closer. “You do not get to teach me how to own myself and then decide you own the parts that frighten you.”
His face tightened. “I do not own any part of you.”
“You’re threatening institutional authority because you don’t like my decision.”
“I’m threatening to close a door someone may be waiting behind.”
“It is still my door to walk through.”
“No, Lyra. That is where we disagree.”
The words hit harder than a shout. “You think being afraid gives you the right.”