Chapter 104: The Night

Chapter 104: The NightElena's POVShe waited until two AM.Because two AM was when Anya's replacement on the night shift made his kitchen rounds. Twelve minutes. She'd timed it across four separate nights spread over three months so the timing itself didn't become a pattern.Twelve minutes.She needed eight.She sat on her bed fully dressed and listened to the castle settle into itself the way old buildings settled. Creaks. The ventilation system. The quiet of a place where everyone who was going to sleep had slept and everyone who was watching was watching from fixed positions she'd mapped.She thought about Mikhail.He had left at midnight.She'd walked him to the servants exit on the east side and watched him go through it with the folded paper in his pocket and the careful walk of a ten year old who had been taught to move without drawing attention.She hadn't watched him go far.She'd turned back immediately because watching him go far was the thing most likely to break herShe

Chapter 105: The Message

Chapter 105: The MessageVictor hadn't slept. He rarely did anymore, not really, just closed his eyes in a chair for a few hours and called it rest.So when the knock came, he was already standing before he registered deciding to stand.Two AM. Nobody knocked on a hotel door at two AM with good news.He crossed the room, checked the peephole out of habit more than caution, and stopped.A boy.Small, dark-haired, maybe ten years old, standing alone in the hallway with his hands shoved in his pockets and his shoulders pulled up around his ears like he was bracing for the door not to open.Victor opened it.The boy looked up at him and didn't flinch, which told Victor something before a single word passed between them. Children who had been taught to fear men didn't hold eye contact like that. This one had been taught something else."Are you Victor Lang?" The accent was faint, French underneath something else. Russian, maybe, worn down."Yes."The boy pulled a folded piece of paper from

Chapter 106: Damien

Chapter 106: DamienDamien was awake when Hale called, which was not unusual. nowadays everything seems to rob him of sleep.He was in the study. Liora was asleep upstairs, or had been the last time he checked, curled on her side with one hand under the pillow the way she always slept, like she was braced to grab something at short notice. He'd stood in the doorway for longer than necessary before coming down here. He did that most nights now. Looked at her before he let himself stop looking at anything.The phone lit up. Hale.Hale didn't call at two in the morning unless something had moved."Say it," Damien said, no greeting, because Hale didn't need one and neither of them had ever wasted time on the parts of a conversation that weren't information."She called me." Hale's voice was doing something Damien had rarely heard it do, which was shake, very slightly, under the professional flatness. "Elena. Four minutes ago, my personal line. She said her name. She confirmed things only

Chapter 107: Victor and Mikhail

Chapter 107: Victor and MikhailVictor let the boy finish the orange juice before he asked anything else. his heart beat had never been this fast, anxiety and fear warring for dominance in him, but he had to stay calm to be able to get the answers to his questions."Better?" Victor asked.Mikhail nodded. He'd stopped swaying in the chair, some of the color back in his face. Up close, in better light, Victor could see the boy's feature his eyes were green the color of moss and hair a curly brown, he looked well taken care of, except for his worn out cloth he was ok."Tell me about her," Victor said. "Not the message. Her. How is she."Mikhail considered the question with more care than most adults gave it. "She's strong," he said finally. "She doesn't cry where people can see. She taught me English from books she wasn't supposed to have. She taught me how to watch a room and know who is dangerous and who is only loud." He paused. "She draws. All the time. Buildings. She doesn't know s

Scent of Obsession のすべてのチャプター: チャプター 111 - チャプター 114

Chapter 104: The Night

Chapter 105: The Message

Chapter 106: Damien

Chapter 107: Victor and Mikhail