The study settled again after the courier's hasty retreat, the mplight catching on the brass buttons of Dawn's coat and the glint of Auger's cane.

  For a moment, no one spoke; the weight of recognition had already passed between them, but without the proper words exchanged.

  It was Dawn who broke the silence, tugging off her gloves and setting them neatly on the table, "Strange, isn't it? We've both marched under Lady Keter's watch, and yet this is the first time we actually meet. Properly, at least."

  Lea shut The Count of Monte Cristo with a quiet thump, setting it carefully on the armrest.

  She hesitated, then rose to her feet, smoothing her tunic with ink-stained palms, "Then I suppose I should introduce myself properly."

  She csped her hands before her, standing straighter than before. Her voice carried a practiced crity, though a hint of nervousness lingered in her eyes.

  "My name is Lea Darkwill."

  The name struck like a spark in dry tinder. Dawn's brow lifted ever so slightly, her sharp gaze flickering across the young woman as though seeing her anew.

  "Darkwill?", she repeated slowly, tasting the word, "As in… that Darkwill?"

  Lea blinked, tilting her head, "That Darkwill?"

  Auger's smirk deepened, but he said nothing, simply watching as Dawn stepped closer, arms folding loosely across her chest.

  "The Darkwills were a noble house of Ryteline.", Dawn expined, voice quiet but steady, "High-ranking, even. They fell twenty-six years ago, stripped of nds, name, and legacy. They were convicted of conspiracy against the Crown."

  Her eyes narrowed slightly, but not unkindly, "That name… it isn't common. You must know of it."

  Lea's expression faltered, her hands tightening around each other. She lowered her gaze, speaking softly, "I don't... I was told I was abandoned as an infant. A basket left on the steps of a church in Renlou. All I had was a scrap of parchment with my name written on it."

  The silence that followed was heavy, but not cold. Dawn studied her for a long moment, her own features softening.

  Then she exhaled slowly, shaking her head with something almost like relief.

  "…I see. Then it isn't your burden."

  Lea looked up, startled, "What?"

  Dawn's tone gentled, warm but firm, "Whatever your blood may have been, it doesn't matter. The sins of the Darkwills were theirs alone. You don't bear them. You never could."

  Lea's lips parted, but no words came. For the first time in their exchange, the young woman looked unguarded, something flickering between gratitude and disbelief.

  Auger tapped his cane against the floor with a sharp click, breaking the quiet before it could settle too deeply, "Well said, Princess. Though I admit, I half-expected a lecture on vigince and suspicion."

  Dawn's mouth twitched into a small, crooked smile, "I've no interest in hounding orphans for their ancestors' crimes. That would be… counterproductive."

  She turned back to Lea, her eyes steady. "Lea Darkwill, a member of the Argonaut, Dantes. That's who you are to me. Nothing more needs saying."

  Lea blinked rapidly, trying to chase away the warmth rising to her cheeks. She gave a stiff nod, though her voice was softer than she intended.

  "…Thank you."

  Auger leaned back into his chair with a chuckle, the corners of his mouth curved in amusement, "How sentimental of you both. Careful, if Lady Keter heard this, she might accuse us of forming bonds."

  Dawn shot him a look, half amused, half exasperated, "And you'd think she would make fun of bonding."

  "Naturally.", Auger replied smoothly, smirk widening, "She is quite devilish when it comes to teasing people."

  The study's warmth shifted then, the earlier tension giving way to something gentler, not trust, not yet, but the unmistakable root of comradeship.

  Auger tapped his cane once against the floorboards, breaking the small silence after Lea's introduction.

  "Well then.", his voice smooth, but edged with intent, "Why don't we skip the pleasantries, Princess Dawn? You wouldn't have come all this way simply for idle chatter. Why are you here?"

  Dawn's gaze swept the room, lingering on Lea for a moment before returning to Auger.

  Her lips curved into the faintest smirk, "Half the reason is her."

  Lea blinked, surprised, "…Me?"

  "You've been traveling with him since that incident, I know that much." Dawn said matter-of-factly, tugging off one glove finger by finger, "I wanted to see another member with my own eyes, not through the filters in that library."

  Lea hugged her book a little tighter, unsure how to respond. Before she could, Dawn's warmth cooled, her eyes narrowing on Auger.

  "And the other half…", she stepped forward, boots clicking against the floor, "Was to confront you!!"

  Auger leaned back slightly in his chair, cane resting against his knee, "Oh?"

  "You could've told me.", Dawn's voice sharpened, low but bristling. "You're a demigod, Auger Maxwell!! You've been one since before my kingdom had its first stone id. And yet when you pyed with me and my siblings, you kept that tucked away like some… idle curiosity."

  Lea gnced between them, but stayed quiet. She already knew Auger's secret, though hearing Dawn voice it with such weight sent a shiver through her all the same.

  Auger tilted his head, unbothered, "If I recall correctly, Princess, I did not lie. You simply... never asked."

  Dawn's jaw clenched. She stabbed a finger at him, "That's not the point. You hide behind clever words, but you are a demigod, a relic of the st Era. That isn't something you bury in small talk!!"

  Auger chuckled under his breath, the sound infuriatingly calm, "You give me too much credit. Demigod, relic… titles. Nothing more."

  His eyes sharpened, cane tapping once, "Which brings me back to my question, what is it you want from me, Dawn?"

  Her anger simmered, but she pulled herself straighter, letting the weight of her true purpose settle over the room.

  "I need your help.",she said firmly, "I'm searching for something only you might have the reach to find."

  Lea leaned forward, the grip on her book tightening.

  Dawn's words came slowly, deliberately.

  "Bone fragments of an unknown god. One who wielded the Authorities of Regression, Correction, and Legacy."

  The air thickened instantly, the candles sputtering as if they too recognized the gravity.

  Lea held her breath. She remembers the conversation st Sunday, the god who dominates what Lady Keter calls Absolution.

  For once, Auger did not smirk. He lowered his gaze, his expression unreadable, voice dipping into something heavier.

  "Fragments of a god…", his fingers tapped the cane, "You do realize the danger in chasing them?"

  Lea clutched her book so tightly the edges bit into her arms.

  Fragments of a god.

  Dawn met his eyes without hesitation, "I realize it and I accept it. But these fragments may hold truths beyond anything the Crown, the Church, or the Organizations could imagine. I can't ignore that, and I can't do it alone."

  Auger leaned back, gaze still sharp, though there was a flicker of curiosity beneath the surface.

  "You've always had ambition, Dawn. But ambition for god-bones… That's not curiosity. That's obsession."

  "And obsession built this kingdom's future!!", she replied with a confident smile.

  Fragment of a god, divine remnants...

  The phrase wouldn't stop ringing in Lea's head, each repetition louder, sharper, until it drowned out the room itself.

  Her chest constricted. Breath wouldn't come right, too fast, too shallow. The mplight blurred, smearing into streaks of gold.

  She tried to focus on the familiar weight of The Count of Monte Cristo, but it wasn't a book in her hands anymore. It was the Tome of Light, it was a searing script crawling into her veins, whispering a thousand voices pressed into her skull.

  She flinched, arms tightening around herself.

  Auger's cane tapped once, then stilled. His eyes narrowed as he tilted his head, "…Lea?"

  The sound of her name cut through the static, but only just. Her throat worked soundlessly, lungs burning from breaths that wouldn't fill.

  She pressed the book harder to her chest, trying to smother the phantom sensation of words scrawling beneath her skin.

  Dawn's voice softened, stripped of the steel she had when confronting Auger, "She's shaking."

  In an instant, she crossed the room, gloves forgotten on the table. Her hand hovered before she dared rest it gently on Lea's shoulder.

  The contact jolted Lea, her wide eyes darting up, half expecting to see the blinding script etched across Dawn's face.

  But it was just Dawn. Concerned, steady, human.

  "Hey.", Dawn said quietly, lowering her voice as though soothing a spooked animal, "You're safe. Look at me, not the shadows. Just here, just now."

  Lea tried, but her chest still hitched, vision swimming.

  Auger leaned forward, his usual smirk gone, repced by something sharper, "She's becoming unstable."

  He tapped his cane again, but softer this time, steady and deliberate—click, click, click—a rhythm to anchor her, "Lea, listen to the sound. That's all. Just the sound."

  The rhythm cut through the roaring in her ears, grounding her enough to gulp one, then another ragged breath. She focused on the taps, on Dawn's hand steady at her shoulder. Slowly, painfully slowly, the tremor in her hands eased, her breathing hitching but beginning to deepen.

  Lea pressed her forehead against the book, eyes squeezed shut, whispering hoarsely, "I can't-those fragments-they'll…"

  Her voice broke.

  Dawn's expression hardened, not at Lea, but at the implication. She looked to Auger, her mouth a thin line.

  Auger gave the faintest nod, the weight in his gaze betraying that he already understood... Lea had seen too much once, and it had nearly broken her.

  When Lea finally dared lift her head again, both of them watched her, not with suspicion but with something heavier.

  Recognition.

  And for the first time, Dawn's pursuit of god-bones no longer sounded like ambition. It sounded like a curse waiting to repeat itself.

  Rhaps