Aiden Crest found me in the Celestial Library pretending to read a book I had no intention of understanding.
A hero's apology was dangerous. It meant the center of the story had started looking sideways.
Ancient Aetheric Ethics, Volume IV.
The title alone deserved punishment.
Unfortunately, the book had excellent defensive value. People avoided students studying ethics for the same reason they avoided plague houses and honest mirrors. Nobody wanted accidental exposure.
I chose a table near the western window, back to the wall, exits visible, left hand hidden beneath the desk. Sunlight spilled across the page in gold bars. Astral Zenith floated beyond the glass, all towers and arrogance and distant bells.
Beautiful, if one ignored the murder basement.
Aiden stopped three steps away.
Three, not two.
He had started measuring distance around me.
