Page 154 of Stormvein

Authority Codes

I watchher carefully as she wrestles with revelations about her identity that would shatter most. There’s a strength in her that continues to surprise me. I find myself constantly recalibrating my perception of her, each new facet of her character forcing me to discard old assumptions. The strategist in me warns against growing too attached. The man I am no longer cares. She’s under my skin, and I have no desire to expel her.

“We start with what we know. Miradel recognized your name in connection with a child the Authority sought.”

“Which happened when you were still imprisoned in the tower.”

“Yes. Much happened during those years that I only have second-hand knowledge of. We need to seek out anyone here who survived those years, and might have information about this child.”

Her brow furrows as she looks at me. I can almosthearthe thoughts building in her mind.

“Varam might know who we should speak to. He will be discreet.” I cross to the door and instruct the guard outside to send for my second in command. When I turn back, Ellie is studying one of the maps.

“Do you really think I could have been born here? That I’m not from Chicago at all?” She doesn’t look up. “That somehow I’m the child they were transporting?”

“I don’t know, but the timing aligns too perfectly to dismiss it.” I study the tension in her shoulders, the slight tremor in her hands that she’s trying to hide.

“If it’s true, if I was born here, then sent to my … to Earth somehow …why?Who would do that? And how? If itistrue, then nothing I believed about myself is real.” The anguish in her voice makes me move before I really think about it—an instinct that would have been foreign to me once. Before her touch remade me.

I step closer to her, resting my palm against her back, and turn her to face me. The silver in her eyes has brightened, tears threatening to spill. Pressing two fingers beneath her chin, I tilt her head up. The gesture feels both protective and possessive.

“Everything you are is real.” My voice is firm. “Where you came from? That’s just origin. Who you became, the choices you’ve made, the strength you’ve shown.That’swhat makes you who you are.” I understand displacement better than most, having lost so many years of my life inside that tower. Different circumstances, but the same sense of being ripped from one’s proper place.

A small smile touches her lips. “When did you become an optimist?”

“I’m not an optimist. I’m someone who recognizes when facts support a particular conclusion.”

Her laugh is brief but soft, the sound drawing me closer like a shadow seeks darkness. My thumb brushes over her lips,and I’m lowering my mouth to hers when the door opens. Varam pauses, taking in our proximity before speaking. The interruption irritates me more than it should.

“You sent for me?”

“Yes.” My hand drops away and I take a step back, putting a more respectable distance between us. “We need to locate anyone who might know more about the prisoner transport Miradel mentioned.”

Varam rubs his jaw. “Most operations from that time weren’t well documented. It was too dangerous to keep records. But there are a couple of people who might remember … Jaris was actively involved in raids on prisoner convoys for many years.”

“Can you find him and bring him here … and anyone else who might remember details about this mission?”

After Varam leaves, Ellie turns to me.

“What about Telren? He was helping me with my powers while you were … when you were taken after River Crossing.”

“He never mentioned anything at the meeting.”

“No, but that doesn’t mean he wouldn’t know where to look, especially about the crystal.”

She has a point. Telren was already a historian before I was imprisoned. If anyone can search quickly through the archives we do have, then it will be him.

“Good idea. I’ll send someone to find him.”

I move to the door again to give further instructions to the guard. When I return, Ellie is pacing, fingers twisting together.

“Are you all right?”

She stops. “I … I don’t know. Everything feels off-balance. Like I’m standing on the edge of something I can’t see.”

The admission, the vulnerability in it, stirs something in me that I’ve kept buried for too long. I cross the space between us and cup her face between my palms.

“We’ll find the answers, Mel’shira.”