lazed in silver. It was quiet, too quiet, as if the

s, I saw him , that stranger with the gaze

y lights flickered, and the smell of rain still clung to the marble corridors. M

ped with a crest ,a serpent coiled around a rose. My br

g fingers, I

s, Some knowledge canno

to me. Do not resist wha

.

o words that meant no

ded none of this was happening. But curiosity... or maybe

miliar building at the edge of the city. It was an abandoned the

thick with the scen

tsteps, slow and certain,

ved out of them. Same piercing eyes. Same quiet conf

said, his voice

lied, my heartbeat far

tly. "You coul

ght abo

, here y

e distance between us

usand times," he said, studying me as though my face held a secret he'd

ither," I

"Then you understand. Nothing th

hand. Cold. St

y understanding

ment the world