24. Silas
Silas
If a door you locked is found open, do not ask who opened it. Ask what it wanted you to see.
Night had settled over Grimora like a shroud, and I stood across the street from the Chancellery watching for any sign of movement.
Patrols. Guards. Anything that would indicate someone was still here.
All those years chasing Lyric’s legacy around this world, and evidence had been right under my damn nose the whole time.
Hidden by a fury-born who likely had no idea the importance of what she was hoarding.
I knew Syneca could feel my irritation and I didn’t fucking care.
She should have stayed at the apothecary where stone walls and wards could keep her safe.
She’d refused. Every muscle in my body still wanted to grab her and haul her back there anyway.
But she’d made her choice, and I was learning the hard way that forcing her hand only made her dig in harder.
So I’d backed down, even though every instinct I had fought against it.
“They could all be in there,” Pip whispered from Calder’s shoulder, her voice small and afraid.
She meant the hunters and I wouldn’t look at her and lie about the danger.
It was important she kept her guard up. But there was a line of fully grown and capable men here who would lay down their lives to protect her, even if looking at her reminded me far too much of Lore.
I made a mental note to talk to Ramiel about that fucking choice later.
Spreading Lore’s image came with its own set of problems I didn’t want to deal with.
The Ruby District bustled behind us. Sprites zipped overhead carrying packages and messages.
People moved between restaurants and shops, laughter spilling out onto the cobblestones.
The smell of caramelized onions and something floral, maybe lavender baked into pastries, drifted from an open doorway across the street.
Lanterns hung from every building, casting warm pools of light that made the whole district feel alive despite the late hour.
This was the small fraction of this world I appreciated.
The parts that didn’t involve hunters or prophecies or people trying to kill each other over ancient grudges.
Just ordinary life happening the way it should amongst oblivious people.
But the Chancellery sat dark and silent at the center of it all.
No lights in the windows. No guards at the doors.
Just the massive stone building looming like a tomb, its courtyard empty except for the banners floating above it.
Syn’s face repeated across dozens of them, her freckles and wild curls rendered in perfect detail beneath the words: The Phoenix re-identified. If seen, report to the Ripper.
“I’ve got us shielded,” Dez said quietly. “Which means at minimum, no one’s going to feel us coming from our power. And no one will be able to step too close without me knowing about it.”
But the strange thing was, and they kept stacking up, there was no government to be seen. It was like the hunters had abandoned the town and Tiberius Veyne’s advisors had vanished. Which felt more like a trap than anything else.
“This is ridiculous,” Syn said. “There’s no one here. I’m going.”
I snatched her arm. “Let me check from above one more time.”
She rolled her eyes.
I shifted and launched into the air.
But like the wildfire she’d become, quiet and controlled until something finally gave her permission to burn, she ran for the Chancellery anyway.
I heard the scuffle behind her as the rest raced to catch up. Annoyed but not fucking surprised, I dove. When Syn pressed her back against the wall near a door, cased in shadow, I dropped and slunk down the wall in shadow form, wrapping myself around her.
Her body against mine for just a moment, warm and solid and alive, sent a jolt through me. I had no business feeling it. I shifted from shadow to man, hand covering her mouth as I leaned close. “If you wanted to die, you should have mentioned that before we left the Underworld.”
She mumbled something I couldn’t hear, bit my hand, then smashed her elbow into my gut.
Good girl.
Calder went for the door.
Syn stopped him, fingers already tracing the runes etched into the frame.
He knew she’d done this a hundred times, if not with doors, then other runes.
The wards deactivated with a soft hum of magic and we rushed inside.
When Calder pulled the door shut behind us, we all went still.
Waiting. Listening for footsteps or voices or any sign the hunters were here waiting to spring the trap.
Calder signaled to move.
We split instinctively. Calder and Pip went toward the main corridor to watch the entry points.
Dez and Ram held position near the door we’d come through and I stayed on Syn’s flank as she led us toward the records wing.
She knew this building inside and out. So did I, even if I’d only ever seen it from the shadows I lurked in.
A flare of magic pulled my attention. Dez’s silent signal.
I clocked it immediately and dropped back to him.
He shook his head, expression tight. “The magic here is…”
“Tiberius Veyne was suppressing magic through all the runes here and in the city. From the looks of the place, nothing’s been changed yet. Not even a new government official.”
Dez stepped backward, eyes scanning the walls of runestones. “No it’s not that. Something’s reading us. Gauging our power.”
I didn’t know what that meant, but I believed his concern without question. “Leave Ramiel at the door if you need to, and for her sake, Dez… Figure it out fast. It’s far too fucking quiet in here.”
I moved to catch Syn before she got further into the building, but she was already stepping into one of the record rooms.
She was standing there waiting with her arms crossed the second I’d walked in. “How far away is Ramiel?”
I lifted a brow. “Far enough. Why?”
“Because I need to know what you learned about Lyric when you were here before. And since he thinks this mission is new, we can’t really discuss the details with him in the room.”
“And so you think this is the appropriate time?”
She gestured to the room. “Seems pretty fucking appropriate to me.”
I looked up to the ceiling, willing patience into my veins.
“I started with absolutely nothing. Landed first in Solaire with Calder’s father. So I went to the prisons in Corvassa, figuring I could bribe someone with their freedom for information.”
“And?”
“Most knew about as much as you do now. Then I followed the rumors to the Sorrow—”
Syn shifted her weight. “I don’t need your life story, Silas. There’s no time. Just give me the facts of what you actually found. Is there anything you know that I don’t?”
Annoyance flared hot in my chest, but I kept my voice level.
“He was rarely seen with the other Guardians after he came to this world. Spent most of his time in the Sorrow Mountains, alone. And from what I could piece together, he’s been missing for about a hundred and seventy-five years. Give or take.”
“Where did the trail go cold?”
“If I knew that, we wouldn’t be standing in the fucking Chancellery.”
“Did you ever ask Riot when I wasn’t around?” she asked. “Because he and Aureth would have been an obvious, easy way to get far more information.”
“They would have been,” I said flatly. “When they showed up in Grimora, it was the first time I’d been close enough to someone who might have a real account. But when I tried to reveal myself, the magic of the bargain with your grandmother forbade it.”
“Why?”
“Because deep down I believed if they knew you were bound to me, it would put you in danger. And I’m sworn to keep you safe.” I crossed my arms. “The bargain didn’t give me a choice in the matter.”
Syn went quiet.
“We don’t have time for this,” I reminded her.
She stared at me for another beat, then seemed to accept it.
Spun back to face the room, her focus shifting instantly to the task at hand.
She’d always been good at compartmentalizing.
It’s the only way she was able to survive right under the Magistrate’s nose for so many years. Head down, and onward.
The space was dark with a floor-to-ceiling filing system, physical and magical both. Drawers stacked so high they disappeared into shadow. Runes etched into every surface, glowing faintly in the dim light.
I wasn’t sure how it all worked, but I trusted Syn here. Let her keep the lead. I knew she wouldn’t waste anyone’s time or put a single one of the team in any more danger than we already were.
But something was wrong. The building was too fucking quiet.
Not just because it was empty, it wasn’t that.
It was the kind of quiet that came right before something went to hell.
Before a trap sprung. And Syn was standing in the middle of it, completely exposed, focused on files and numbers instead of watching her back.
Whether she liked it or not, the fact that she was locked in on searching those files meant she trusted me to do exactly what I was best at. She didn’t need to be afraid with me at her side, even if trusting me only happened when she didn’t realize she was doing it.
I let the shadows veil me, blending into the darkness at the edges of the room where I could watch both her and the door.
She pulled the jar from her cloak and studied the numbers etched into the glass.
Her fingers moved to the corresponding rune on the nearest filing station, pressing against it as she spoke the sequence aloud.
The rune flared blue.
Throughout the massive room, filing cabinets began to glow in response. Drawers slid open on invisible tracks. Files lifted themselves into the air, spiraling toward her in a coordinated dance before arranging themselves on the podium in perfect order.
She started going through them. One file opened, scanned, sent back. Another came forward. Then another. Boxes floated down from upper shelves as she worked, methodical and fast and fucking beautiful.
“The jar’s number wasn’t in reference to a single file?” I asked from the shadows.
She turned and looked at me, eyes wider than I’d like. “No. It’s an incident. And there are entries from many races.” She turned back to the files, flipping through another. “I just can’t figure it out yet.”
I watched her fingers move across the pages, scanning for whatever she needed, then forced myself to look at the door instead. Pip appeared, breathless.
“What?” I asked quietly.
“There’s a secondary entrance on the east side that the Circle uses,” she whispered. “It’s been used recently. Not forced. Unlocked from the inside.”
Which meant someone had left this building in a hurry and hadn’t relocked it behind them.
It wasn’t odd that someone had been here. We’d expected that. But it was odd that someone had left in that kind of rush. This was an official government building. Protocol mattered. Locked doors mattered.
“Go back to Calder,” I said. “Watch that door specifically. No one comes through without warning us first.”
She nodded and turned to go, but paused at the threshold. Looked back at Syn working, files floating down from their shelves and back up again as she sent them away.
What was on Pip’s face wasn’t fear.
It was something closer to awe. Syn was moving files as if she were conducting a symphony and Pip wasn’t wrong to see the beauty in it. She sighed and flitted back out the door and not five minutes later, Dez was there in her place.
I knew from his face before he opened his mouth things were getting worse.
“The building isn’t warded against intrusion,” he said quietly. “Maybe it used to be but not anymore. There are no tripwires on the doors. No proximity wards. Nothing that would have flagged our entry.”
“But?”
“But there’s something that activated after we came inside.
Something keyed not to the act of breaking in but to a specific signature.
” He stepped closer, keeping his voice low.
“I’ve been feeling it map my shield from the outside in, layer by layer.
Like it’s cataloging what’s here. Like it’s learning us. ”
My jaw tightened. “What does it signal when it finishes?”
“I don’t know. And I don’t know how long we have.” His expression was grim. “What I do know is that it started the moment we crossed the threshold and it hasn’t stopped.”
I looked at Syn. “How long do you need, Syneca?”
She hadn’t looked up from the files floating in front of her. “I don’t know yet.”
“Syn.”
“I said I don’t know.”
Dez caught my eye. The look that passed between us was grim and silent. “I’m not sure we have more than a minute or two.”
“Then figure it out faster,” I said as he turned and walked away.
I waited approximately ninety seconds before I couldn’t anymore.
I crossed to her and put my hand over hers on the main rune running the filing system, not grabbing, just stopping her.
“We need to go. We’ll find another way in. Come back with more information about what the building is doing.”
“If I break the extraction mid-sequence, the record seals,” she said in a voice that was very carefully not an argument because she knew an argument would cost time we didn’t have.
“The record doesn’t matter if we’re caught inside by more hunters than we have weapons for, or something worse.”
“No. You’re wrong, Silas. Everything matters and this is our only lead.” She didn’t bother looking up at me as she stated her next cutting sentence. “I swore my life to this. Remind me again how long you spent looking for him with no results.”
What followed wasn’t quite a fight. It was too silent. Too controlled.
I wanted her safe.
She wanted the thing that made safety possible.
Neither of us moved.
Then I did the thing that cost me, the thing that I would always do for her. I stayed. Didn’t grab her. Didn’t say the one word I could use to control her. Didn’t use the fact that I could physically remove her from this room if I chose to.
I moved back to the door and put my body between her and whatever was coming and said nothing else.
Through the bond, I felt her awareness shift. There was a hint of gratitude but it was drowned by desperation I couldn’t fault her for. She’d never go down without a fight. And I’d never let her do it alone. She might’ve been wildfire, but I was the monster that chose to burn with her.