4: The

ched the drawing of the sigil, her fingers white against the paper. The flame surrounded

e window again,

oon" carved into the pavement hadn't been there yesterday. It was

ho was pa

her phone an

need to

ter, her p

'm on

ivate security network-something she didn't even know he had access to. Amara

it?" sh

oaked but intact. "You're not

ents across her kitchen counter-clippings, photos, an

her's vault," he said. "It m

s widened.

the Order of the Veiled Flame. The cu

ent gently. "You belie

afford

omeone left a message outside. In

hen we're not waiting any

metric scanners and time-worn steel doors. Leo had only visited on

melled like

tings-some of men who looked eerily like Leo

lway, Leo pressed his

tomes, scrolls, and ancient weapons. A glass case at

a faded journal. "This belonged t

loser, brushin

emotionally charged. One c

er 15

exact moment we met. I wept when sh

l him in every shadow. He won

eo... what if Cyras

arry memory through centuries... it would t

journal. There, burned into th

burn through all our lives. Onl

ent that night, Am

fingers move without conscious thought.

Le

, with eyes like obsidian a

e to her lik

ra

eath c

. Not from the dre

m w

quietly in the Ardent Corp

ited f

n-there

k. He was speaking to someone on the phone, his voice

locked

he s

rs when they've won a game on

kin c

e paused just long

ee you again

idn't

ldn

ith her gaze, he was gone-vanished

to Leo's offic

e's one of yo

immediat

now is Cyrus Vale. Head o

ought him in before he d

fists. "He called me Marise

"We're not waiting for hi

she s

, eyes burning with

he said, "he