Run: 2026-11-11-01M753C1HZP9Y15A173VFD8MEM

She pulled the door open on the third deadbolt and faced Lucien Moreau on the landing above the curry house. Rain dripped from the hem of his charcoal suit and darkened the boards under his shoes. His cane rested across his body, ivory handle catching the hall light. Platinum hair stuck wet to his forehead. One eye shone amber. The other eye stayed black. Ptolemy wedged his tabby head between her ankles and stared at the man's shoes. "Three deadbolts, Rory." Lucien tapped the ivory handle against his palm and looked past her shoulder at the flat. Eva's books filled every surface. Scrolls tied with red thread leaned against the wall. Research notes pinned over the sink curled in steam from the curry house below. "You learned the trick from Eva." Rory gripped the edge of the door with her left hand. The crescent scar on her wrist showed under her sleeve. "You are not on my list of visitors, Lucien." He shifted his weight and the cane tip scraped wood. "Eva called in a favor for you." Her shoulder blocked the gap between door and frame. "Eva is in Bath until Friday." "Your flat above Silas' bar sits empty." She kept her blue eyes on his face and tilted her chin up. "How do you know where I sleep?" "I know where you deliver for Yu-Fei Cheung." Ptolemy gave Lucien's ankle a swipe and missed. "Get off my landing." He placed his cane tip on the threshold and held it there. "Let me inside before the watcher on Brick Lane gets a clear sight of my face." Rory planted her feet on the flat side of the door. "Watcher?" "A man from the Empress kitchen staff who traded names with the wrong people." She shook her head and black hair brushed her shoulders. "I have heard that line from you before." His amber eye narrowed. "You heard the truth that night too." "I heard a goodbye that night." Ptolemy jumped onto a stack of books and knocked one volume sideways. The book thudded against a scroll and a red tie slipped loose. Rory reached behind her back and caught the book spine before it fell. "You disappeared from the Golden Empress back door and left me holding a delivery bag with your name on the tag." Lucien lifted the cane from the threshold. "I put your name on the tag to keep my father's men off your trail." "Your father lives in Avaros." "My father sent men to London this week." The curry steam rose through the floorboards and filled the flat with cumin and fried onion. Rory breathed through her mouth and tasted spice on her tongue. "Why tell me now?" "Eva's research notes name a door between London and Avaros." She glanced at the pinned notes over the sink. "Eva studies old languages for fun." "Eva studies names of demons for money and protection." He lifted his cane and the ivory handle pointed at the scrolls. "That scroll names your ex." Rory's hand tightened on the door edge. "Say his name and I will shut this door." "Evan." Ptolemy hissed at Lucien's shoes and crouched on the books. Lucien kept his face toward Rory and ignored the cat. "Evan owes a debt in Avaros and offered your Cardiff address as payment." She tugged her sleeve over the scar and covered skin with cotton. "Evan never set foot in Cardiff." "Evan set foot in a pub in Marseille and signed a paper with a demon mark." Rory stepped half a pace back and left the doorframe open. "You were born in Marseille." He gave a short nod and platinum hair fell over his forehead. "My mother gave me this face and my father gave me debts." She folded her arms across her chest and delivery uniform fabric crinkled. "You left me in London with a bag and a warning." "I gave you Eva's number and money for a train." "You gave me a number I called for six weeks." His black eye flicked to her blue eyes and held there. "Eva answered on week six." "Eva told me you bled on her doorstep." Lucien touched his ribs through his suit jacket. "A hunter from Avaros carries a blade shaped for half-bloods." Rory looked at his cane and ivory handle gleamed. "Your cane hides a blade." "My cane hides a blade for hunters." Pans clattered in the curry house kitchen downstairs and steam pushed through the boards. "You use that line on every client?" "I use that line on no client." Ptolemy pounced on Lucien's cane tip and batted it with a paw. Lucien lifted the cane clear of the cat and rainwater flicked from the tip. "Stand aside, Rory." She remained on the flat side of the threshold. "This is Eva's flat, not mine and not yours." He leaned close enough for her to see the amber ring around the black pupil. "Eva's flat holds notes hunters want." "Then hunters can knock and wait for a deadbolt." A door slammed downstairs and footsteps crossed the street outside. Rory turned her head toward the sound and Lucien stepped forward into her space. Her back hit the doorframe and book dust coated her sleeve. "You heard that?" "I heard shoes I know." "Whose shoes?" "Men who work kitchen shifts at the Golden Empress and night shifts for Avaros." She scooped Ptolemy into her arms and the cat writhed against her delivery shirt. "You brought them here." Lucien raised both hands, palms empty, cane held vertical. "I brought myself here and they followed my trail." She shifted the cat to her left arm and freed her right hand. "You wanted a place to hide." "I wanted you alive." The stairwell light buzzed and threw hard shadows across Lucien's suit. Rory studied the wet line where rain had darkened his collar. "You want something from Eva's notes." "I want the name on the scroll before hunters read it aloud." She looked over her shoulder at the scrolls and red ties stood out against pale paper. "Eva locks research in a tin box under the bed." "Hunters carry keys cut for tin boxes." Rory's fingers dug into Ptolemy's fur and the cat yowled. She loosened her grip and set the cat on the floor. Ptolemy bolted behind the book stack and knocked a mug of tea. Tea splashed across a research note and ink bled at the edge. Lucien crouched and caught the mug before it fell from the shelf. She snatched the mug from his hand and the wrist scar showed. He caught her wrist and thumb rested over the crescent scar. She pulled her wrist free and slammed the mug onto the table. "Do not touch me." His hand hung in midair and fingers curled. "That scar came from a childhood accident in Cardiff." "You read my file." "Eva read your file aloud when you slept on her couch." Rory wiped tea from the note with her sleeve and ink smeared. "Eva talks too much." "Eva feeds Ptolemy and talks to the cat." Ptolemy crept from behind books and rubbed his head against Lucien's shoe. Lucien looked down and his cane tip tapped beside the cat's paw. "Your cat likes my shoes." "Your shoes smell of rain and chemicals." He straightened and water dripped from his cuff onto the threshold. "Give me the scroll with the red tie on the left." She blocked the shelf with her body. "Bring me proof Evan signed a paper." Lucien reached inside his suit jacket and pulled a folded paper. The paper bore a black mark shaped like a claw. He held the paper between two fingers and rain had curled one corner. Rory took the paper and held it near the hall light. "Where did you get this?" "Evan left it in a delivery bag at the Empress." She pressed the paper flat against the table with her palm. "You planted a bag in my deliveries." "Yu-Fei Cheung planted that bag and I removed it before a driver opened it." "Yu-Fei runs a restaurant." "Yu-Fei runs a restaurant and a meeting room for men who trade in names." Rory lifted her blue eyes to his heterochromatic eyes. "You trade in names too." "I trade in names to keep your name off lists." She folded the paper and creased the claw mark. "You left London." "I left London to draw hunters toward Marseille." "Use French on them and send them packing." "French draws a crowd in Brick Lane." Footsteps paused outside the door and a shadow crossed the frosted glass. Ptolemy froze with his tail high. Lucien placed his cane across the doorway and blocked the gap with wood. Rory pressed her back against the shelf and scrolls rattled behind her. "You came through three deadbolts without a sound." "Eva gave me a key in case hunters came for her." Her hand found the door handle behind her back. "Eva trusts you." "Eva trusts you more." He shifted the cane a fraction and the ivory handle caught light. "I will not open the door for hunters." "Open the door for me and I will shut it behind us." "Behind us means you stay inside." "Behind us means hunters lose our trail at the curry house stairs." She looked at the door handle and pictured steps downstairs. "You need a bed and a locked room." "I need a locked room with you in it." His voice dropped and amber eye stayed fixed on her mouth. Rory swallowed and tasted tea and curry on her tongue. "Say the rest." He opened his mouth and cane pressed against the frame. "Rory, move."