Chapter 26: Third kill.
After the emperor's speech earlier, Lee guessed what the creepy warehouse was for. One didn't have to be a genius to figure out that Lance was currently sitting there, absorbing the spark. The emperor did call the process a ritual, and the strange glass water basins and candles were probably somehow related to it.
Already before leaving the table Lee knew his plan had a fault. And it was so. For Lance to remain undisturbed, his father stationed a couple of guards at the warehouse, but fortunately they were either bored or too much into fighting, and currently stared at the stage in the distance.
There was nothing much to see, though, since Ian and Mark still stood in unmoving stalemate, but it was all Lee needed.
He took a wide roundabout route and, avoiding occasional servant rushing to or from tables, arrived at the far end of the warehouse, where the entrance door was. Like earlier, it opened without a sound and Lee nimbly slid inside.
The idea was simple. He would put the dagger in a visible spot for Lance to discover it as soon as he was done. Then the guy would find out, be it from the guards, servants or his father, what the treasure was, and would go and either tease or confront his brother.
In the best case scenario, the two, each wielding the power of their own spark, would get in a fight, or at least Drevin would be punished for loosing the dagger and it would ignite a conflict between the brothers nevertheless.
No innocents could be incriminated in the scheme and only the two people on Lee's hit list would suffer the consequences. At least he couldn't think of a complication of the scale that happened during the Powel's incident.
As expected, Lance sat in a meditative position in the very middle in the room, between the water basins. He was facing away from the entrance, but the candles burning in front of him, cast long shadows that slightly moved as if they were alive the moment Lee entered, trying to warn the owner about the presence of the intruder.
Fortunately, Lance was either too focused or Lee was silent enough, and his intrusion remained unnoticed. He squatted near the door for a few moments, took out the dagger from his sleeve and slowly moved towards the spot Lance was at, but at the half way froze.