The wait was less than a minute. The clerk emerged, nodded once, and Soren entered, boots hitting the marble with a sound so sharp it nearly disguised the tremor in his gut.

Kaelor was at the window, not behind the desk, a subtle play, maybe, or just a personal habit. "You're early," Kaelor said, not looking back.

Soren stopped exactly one meter from the desk, as protocol liked. "I was told to come at once."

"Good." Kaelor turned, arms crossed, the cut of his uniform so rigid it made Soren's own coat look like a costume. "You know why you're here, Vale?"

'Because you like to see people sweat,' Soren thought, but he said: "To receive my orders, sir."

Kaelor let the silence ride. Only when Soren's gaze started to wander did he lift a sealed packet from the desk and hold it out. "You break this outside my sight. You're on assignment the moment you read the first word."

Soren took the envelope, thumbed the wax. The sigil was the Division's, no other mark, no hint of what waited inside.

Kaelor watched him, the way a wolf might watch another wolf step into a snare. "You have four days. You'll be back on the hour, or you won't be back at all."

Soren clenched the packet, feeling the throb of the embedded shard under his wrist. "What's the mission?"

Kaelor's mouth twitched, once. "Guard duty. But not like you're used to. You'll keep the client alive, and keep yourself out of the story. There are threats, as always. Discretion is the measure here."

Soren nodded, though his brain immediately started its own tally: who, what, why him. "Who's the client?"

Kaelor's gaze sharpened. "Lady Elyndra Caladwen. Her father is a senior patron of the Spire, and she's due at the Autumn Tribunal north of the grounds. You'll accompany her, keep the schedule, and return her without incident."

Soren heard the unsaid: 'If she dies, you die first.'

"Four days," he repeated. "Why me?"

Kaelor's voice stayed level. "Because the Council wants to see if you can follow an order that doesn't end with a casualty count. Because the city's memory is shorter than yours, and they value a clean story more than a true one." He paused. "And because you're being watched. Everything you do in these four days decides what comes after."

Soren felt the cold in his chest, but nodded. "Understood."

Kaelor lifted his chin, signaling Mira in. "She'll observe. You'll coordinate with her and no one else."

Mira stepped in, expression unchanged. She accepted the nod, then fixed Soren with a flat, professional stare. "Observation only," she said. "My report goes direct to the Council. Any deviation, I am to act."

No threat, just fact. Soren respected the clarity.

"Any questions?" Kaelor asked.

Soren hesitated, then: "Why is the Tribunal so important?"

They reached the Uplands in just under three hours. The sky over the Pavilion was the color of cheap tin, and a cold wind whipped banners into tangled lines overhead.

Inside, the main rotunda was an echo chamber of silk voices and old money. The staff wore gray, moving in pairs, each with the careful choreography of people who'd been told exactly how to avoid being noticed. Soren followed the map in his brain, past the fountain, up the spiral, down the left corridor. At the end, a door, unmarked, but attended by a guard whose face was a mask of polite disinterest.

Soren knocked, waited. The door opened, and there she was: Lady Elyndra Caladwen, younger than the rumors, bone-pale under a spill of honey-colored hair, eyes the same sharp static as Kaelor's. She wore a slate dress that looked more like armor than fabric, and her lips were painted the blue of late winter.

She measured Soren in a glance. "You're Vale?"

He nodded. "Yes, Lady."

She smiled, not kindly. "You're smaller than I expected."

He let it pass. "I'm told you need a shadow for the duration."

She swept a hand, inviting him in. The room was an artful mess: papers on the table, a half-eaten meal, a blade in a glass case on the mantle. She closed the door. "You're to keep me alive for four days. That's all?"

"That's the job."

She paced, restless. "They told me you were the best. That you've never let a client die."

He smiled, just barely. "The trick is not getting attached."

She laughed, sharp, unpracticed. "Good. Don't. Because if you fail, there won't be a second chance for either of us."

She gave him the itinerary: two appearances, one speech, a banquet. Otherwise, she preferred to be left alone.

Soren positioned himself by the door, hands folded, watching the room with the side of his eye.

"Anything else?" he asked.

Lady Caladwen looked at him, the first hint of real curiosity in her eyes. "You ever wonder if you're being tested for something else?"

Soren blinked. "Always."

She seemed to like that. "Good."

He stood there, watching the light from the window crawl across the flags of the city, and tried not to count the number of hours left on the assignment. Every instinct told him the real threat had not yet arrived.

The first day passed with nothing but the usual ritual: staff meetings, a public address to a bored knot of dignitaries, a dinner where Lady Caladwen ate nothing and Soren stood at the wall, eyes locked on every movement. He registered every potential access point, the pulse of the security grid, the subtle choreography of servers weaving through the tables.

No attacks. Not even a hint of one.

That night, in the suite, Soren checked the windows and the balcony before taking the chair by the door.

Lady Caladwen sat at her desk, back straight, writing longhand on thick, unlined paper. After a while, she spoke without turning. "Why do you think they chose you, Vale?"

He didn't answer at first. "Because I follow orders."

She shook her head. "That's not it. They want to see if you break."

He said, "I haven't yet."

She turned in her chair, eyes on him now. "Everyone breaks, eventually. The only question is who gets to watch."

He thought of Jannek, of Kaelor, of the ledger and the words etched in blood and memory.

He said, "I don't break easy."

She smiled, this time almost real. "Neither do I. That's why they want us both here. To see who bends first."

The second day, the threat showed itself.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.