The exchange clerk had hidden Vick behind three legal curtains and one ugly wine cabinet.
Sanguina found him because the cabinet kept losing a quarter second.
Its brass latch clicked. The sound arrived after the door had moved. Another click followed when the red route chip in Sanguina's hand pulled toward the wall and cut her palm through her glove.
She had taken the chip from Yara's coffin axle. Yara had chosen her surgeon, barred every return stamp from the infirmary, and made two attendants repeat her name before Sanguina left. The woman had earned control of one room at least.
The chip had led Sanguina through a blood gate and into Ninth Tithe House, where vampire merchants settled border debts without admitting the word sale belonged anywhere near the process.
Registrar Mirel stepped between her and the cabinet. He wore six ink sleeves over each arm. The lowest pair shook.
"I delayed the transfer because your seal appeared on that route chip."
