LEVEL 0 IMMORTAL

Mira's immediate reaction to this man was to reject him, because she could feel how dangerous he was, even if he was just standing in place.

There was this strange aura around him that Mira had sensed from the chief of the oasis before he was slaughtered by the cannibals.

However, the aura from the chief had been incredibly thin, and not the vast shroud over this man in front of her.

"The Commander does not usually take breakfast with visitors," Mira said. "I can…"

"Then she will make an exception." Veyris stepped forward, and Mira did not move.

Her talent held her in place, kept her from flinching and showing the fear that beat against the inside of her chest like a trapped bird.

Veyris looked down and gave a half smile, "Lead on, maid. I know the way."

He did not know the way. The Asylum was a labyrinth, and it seemed as if the corridors shifted when they were not observed. But Mira did not correct him. She turned and walked, and she heard his boots click behind her on the ancient stone.

'I am leading a predator into the heart of our home,' she thought. Cold Mind. Keep it together. Keep it together.

They climbed. The lower floors, the barracks, the libraries, the armories. Veyris did not speak, and Mira did not offer conversation. Her mind was racing, but her talent kept her face blank, and her steps measured.

The Commander will handle him, and I just need to deliver him and leave. Nobody is stronger than her.

But when they reached the door to the Commander's private chambers, Mira hesitated.

"You may wait here," she said, gesturing to a small antechamber with hard stone benches. "I will announce you."

Veyris arched an eyebrow. "You will announce me? To the woman who can see the entire Asylum from her throne. Are you certain she does not already know I am here?"

Mira did not answer. She knocked on the door, three sharp raps, and the door swung open on its own.

The Commander stood at the far end of the chamber, her back to them, looking out a window that Mira knew should not exist.

Through it, she could see not the city below, but a vast, frozen plain, and mountains of ice that caught the light of a sun that never set.

Mira had never been in this room before. She had never been invited. And seeing it now, she understood why.

'This is a place between places.' She thought, remembering the old stories about the gods.

"Leave us," the Commander said. Her voice was calm, almost soft. "I will speak with the Lord-Captain alone."

Mira bowed and stepped back. The door closed behind her, and she stood in the antechamber for a long moment, her heart pounding, her talent struggling to keep the fear at bay.

'I should go, return to the ninth floor, and wait for my master to come back.'

But she did not move. Whether by accident or design, the door was not fully sealed, as there was a crack, no wider than her thumb, that ran along the ancient wood.

Was this a flaw in the wards, perhaps, or an oversight from centuries of use? And through that crack, Mira could hear voices.

She should not listen. She knew she should not listen. But the fear had a voice now, and it whispered, 'If you do not know what is happening in the tower when your master is away, then you cannot protect him.'

Cold Mind did not stop her from pressing her ear to the crack. It simply kept her hand steady as she did it.

"—the boy's trial is already underway." That was Veyris, his voice clipped, precise. "You cannot claim ignorance, Commander. I know you are capable of conducting an Ascendant Trial, but would it not be wiser for the boy to have his training at the center of the continent?"

"The boy is where he needs to be." The Commander's voice was like silk over steel, and Mira almost shuddered even under the effect of Cold Mind. "He will participate when the time is right. Not before."

"The Crown does not appreciate being kept in the dark. The Queen-Regent has questions. The other Great Houses are watching. If this... opportunity... is as valuable as the Lord Protector claims, then the Crown has a right to know how it will be used."

"The Crown has the right to know nothing." The Commander's voice did not rise, but the temperature in the room seemed to drop. Mira could feel it through the stone, a cold that seeped into her bones. "I have given my word that the boy will participate. I have given my word that the prize will be awarded. I have not given my word that I will answer every petty question from a woman who has never set foot outside her palace."

Veyris was silent for a moment. When he spoke again, his voice was lower, harder. "You speak of the Queen-Regent with remarkable disrespect for someone who owes her fealty."

"I owe her nothing. I owe the Ascendant nothing. I owe the Crown nothing." The Commander's voice was flat, and Mira shivered. "I am here because I choose to be here. I protect this city because I choose to protect it. And I will not be interrogated in my own home by a man who wears a title he did not earn."

The silence that followed was so complete that Mira could hear her own heartbeat.

Then Veyris laughed. It was a short, ugly sound. "You are as stubborn as the records said. Very well. I will not ask about the boy. But I will ask about the Lower Levels."

The Lower Levels. Mira did not know what that meant, but the way Veyris said it, the weight he gave each word, made her blood run cold.

"What about them?" the Commander said.

"I have read the archives. The ones your Order tried to hide. The Stoneward Asylum was not built as a fortress. It was built as a prison. And whatever is imprisoned in the Lower Levels... it is waking up."

"You read redacted records and listened to rumors. That is not evidence."

"I have evidence enough." Veyris's voice was tight. "The creatures behind the wall, they came from below. From the deep earth. From places that should have been sealed. And your boy, your Ascendant Candidate, he spent years in the tunnels beneath the Palace, working beside statues that should have been inert. What did he awaken, Commander? What did you use him to awaken?"

The Commander did not answer immediately. When she did, her voice was quieter, almost sad.

"You see conspiracies where there are only necessities, Lord-Captain."

"That is not an answer."

"It is the only answer you will get."

Mira heard footsteps, the soft rustle of fabric. She pressed closer to the crack, barely breathing.

"Leave," the Commander said. "Return to your brother. Watch his wall. Watch his young warriors. But do not come here again without an invitation. The next time, I will not be so hospitable."

More footsteps. The door to the antechamber began to open.

Mira pulled back, her heart in her throat. She turned and walked, not running, not sneaking, just walking, her footsteps steady on the stone.

'They did not see me. They could not have seen me. Cold Mind kept me calm. Cold Mind kept me still. They did not know I was there.'