I move fast through the lower levels of the Temple ruins. The stone walls feel tighter than before, like the Vault is holding its breath.
Kett waits at the archway, hood down, blade half drawn. "Movement near the Pale Tithe safehouse," she says. "A Threadless runner switched the drop location. West sector."
"Did we follow?"
Branvel nods from behind her. "We did more than follow."
He lifts a stained ledger from his coat, edges burned. "Smuggled names. Not just ours. They're watching other factions too. Preparing to pit them against each other."
"They're sowing chaos," I mutter.
"To make space for something," Kett says.
Lira steps into the chamber, wiping blood from her blade. "They're pushing faster now. Like they know time's running short."
"They do," I say. "He's making his move."
Wren enters behind her, eyes wide. "We got word. Sov sent a mark through the hollow wire."
I cross the room and pull the scrap from her hand.
Three words carved into copper: He Walks Alone.
I close my fist around it.
"I need to reach Sov."
---
He waits in the Black Nail district, where the streets are broken and the sky hangs low. We speak in the shadows behind a shattered shrine.
"He's not hiding," Sov says. "He's luring."
"Where?"
"North wall. Outer circle. Broken monastery. He was seen there three nights in a row. Doesn't speak. Just stands. Staring west."
"At us."
Sov nods. "He knows you're building something. But he's not trying to stop it yet."
"He's watching to see if I'll fail on my own."
Sov lowers his voice. "He wears a robe made of threadbare bone. And his ring... it whispers. I heard it. Just standing nearby."
"What did it say?"
"Nothing I could understand. But it didn't speak to me. Only to him. And he smiled."
I stare past Sov, toward the flickering skyline. "Keep watching him. Nothing else. Don't follow. Don't speak. Just listen."
"He's not afraid of you," Sov says quietly.
"He will be."
---
I return to the Vault before dawn. Narth has laid out glyphs across the floor—old ones, half lost.
"They're failing," he says. "The deeper seals are starting to react. Something is waking them up."
"Not *something,*" I say. "*Someone.* He's connected to this too. The Vault isn't just a hiding place. It's a lock."
"And he's the one trying to break it?"
"Or the one it was built to keep out."
Lira steps forward. "If that's true, then what are we doing?"
"We're doing what Vellidra couldn't. We're not choosing silence. We're making sure this city knows who it's dealing with."
Branvel grins. "Good. I'm tired of waiting."
Kett snaps a new map open on the table. "They're planning something in three nights. South rise. Festival of Ash. The Threadless will use it."
"Let them."
I turn to Wren.
"Bring the masks. We strike first."