Chapter 90: River Dungeon after Business (18)
Severin woke with Maerith’s back against his chest and his right hand resting at her waist.
The room was still dark. No sun touched the curtains yet.
He stayed where he was through 2 slow breaths.
Maerith’s breathing remained slow against his arm. Her hair lay across the pillow and over his wrist, soft enough to tempt him into ignoring the choice he’d made before sleep.
Siltglass before the registry opened.
He slid his hand from her waist.
She shifted under the sheet, almost turning after him, but didn’t wake fully. Severin stood, crossed to the west bench, and dressed in the clothes he’d left there. His sword stayed in the Void. He wanted both hands free when he reached the flooded shelf.
Before leaving, he bent and kissed Maerith’s temple.
Then he descended.
The divine bedroom vanished. Cold Greycross air met him on the north upper landing.
Alicia was already there.
Her silver ears turned toward him first. The rest of her followed a heartbeat later, tail lifting behind her as she stepped away from the wall. The Siltglass key ring hung at her belt. Rope, hooks, shuttered lamps, dry cloth, and rolled river leathers sat in a neat pile near her boots.
"No movement from the wagon, Master. Same doors, same watch. The gear’s ready, Master."
"Good. We’re leaving."
Her eyes brightened. "Yes, Master."
He took the heavier roll. Alicia grabbed the rest before he could reach for it.
They went down into a city that hadn’t decided whether it was still night.
Copperglass stable smelled of hay, damp leather, and horses breathing steam into the cold. A lantern burned low beside the tack wall. Saelith stood under it with the sealed Siltglass packet in both hands.
She looked up when Severin entered.
"You came early."
"I said before the registry."
"You did."
No smile. Not quite. The small easing around her eyes was enough.
Alicia set down the gear. "The bay is yours again, Saelith. Master has the chestnut. I’ll take the other horse."
Saelith glanced at Alicia’s ears, then at the packet. "Efficient."
"Master prefers it that way."
That earned the faintest curve at Saelith’s mouth.
While stable hands finished the tack, Saelith broke the field seal and opened the packet. She read standing up, page by page. Her attention slowed at the injury sheet.
"The bite went through layered river leather," she said. "The broken leg came when the worker fell off the shelf. Different injuries. Same cause. They couldn’t see it before it moved."
Severin leaned his right shoulder against the stall post. "Anything in there that changes your first read?"
"Not yet." She turned another page. "But I don’t want a worker putting his leg back into that channel because a foreman thinks a lamp is a solution."
"He won’t."
Boots crossed the yard behind them. The senior clerk arrived fastening his coat, displeasure at the hour losing its fight with professional caution when he saw Severin.
"Sir."
"Send the Siltglass claimwright crew after first light. The written scope has a ceiling of 220 Stellar Gold. They don’t get paid until the Beast is gone, Saelith confirms the water line, and the work is finished."
The clerk gave a short nod. "If the field price changes?"
"They stop and ask."
"Understood."
He left at a quicker pace than he’d arrived.
Saelith folded the injury page back into the packet. "You expect the written scope to survive field inspection."
"I expect someone to prove it before I spend company money."
"Better answer."
Severin looked at her.
Saelith kept her eyes on him as she tucked the packet inside her coat. "I didn’t say it was a flattering answer."
Alicia gave a tiny snort.
Severin almost smiled.
They mounted and rode.
By the time Siltglass Run came into view, darkness had thinned into a gray morning. The claim sat low beside the river road, its outer fence wet with mist. No worker smoke rose from inside. The locked gate looked less like property than a place people had stopped trusting.
Alicia dismounted first and took out the key ring.
"This one, Master."
The lock opened with a hard click.
Severin pushed the gate inward and crossed first. Alicia followed with the keys; Saelith came behind her. The yard was still empty of workers, but it wasn’t unattended anymore.
The claimwright crew hadn’t arrived yet. Good.
They tied the 3 horses on firm ground outside the shelf approach, carried the river gear into the yard, and stopped at the dungeon gate.
Severin put his hand against it.
[Dungeon Entered: Siltglass Run]
[Dungeon Rank: E]
Cold damp air rolled over them as the gate opened.
Alicia peered past his shoulder. "Smells worse than the paper made it sound, Master."
"Paper usually does. Stay by the gate. Nobody comes past you until I clear it."
"Yes, Master."
Saelith crouched near the dry ledge and studied the water without touching it. "The shelf edge is where the record said. Split brace there."
She pointed.
The damage was obvious once Severin followed her finger. A working shelf ran beside a clouded channel, part timber and part stone. The outer timber had split near a brace, leaving a darker gap beneath the lip. Muddy water moved under it without giving up much of what lay below.
Severin stripped off his outer clothes and changed into the prepared river leathers. Saelith changed into the other set before coming to the wet shelf, though she stayed on dry stone beside it. Severin stepped onto the shelf, tested the stone under each boot, then stopped where the boards met the firm edge.
"Don’t chase it into the channel," Saelith said.
"I wasn’t planning to."
"Good. I’d dislike being proved right while dragging you out."
He looked back at her.
Her face stayed perfectly composed.
"You’d drag me out?"
"After I finished saying I told you so."
Alicia’s tail twitched. "Master wouldn’t need dragging."
"Probably not."
"Definitely not, Master."
Severin turned back to the water before they found a new reason to argue over him.
Ordinary sight gave him brown-green murk and a moving skin of silt.
Not enough.
Black mist gathered beneath his eyes and along both sides of his jaw. It swallowed the weak light nearest his face. The Water-Sealing Eye Membrane spread clear over both eyes while Pressure-Sensitive Jawline Pits opened along his jawline.
The change felt wrong for less than a heartbeat, then useful.
He crouched and braced both boots. His left hand closed around the shelf edge. He lowered his face into the water.
Cold hit his skin.
The membrane held.
The channel stayed dirty. Silt still veiled the bottom, but his eyes stayed open beneath the water.
A dark length moved beneath the broken shelf.
At almost the same moment, pressure brushed the pits along his right jaw.
There.
Severin raised his head.
Saelith had shifted closer but kept both boots on dry stone. "You found movement."
"It found me."
The water bulged.
The Beast launched from the clouded channel.
Threat Vector snapped into place.
For 1 heartbeat, Severin had the lunge and the answer to it.
He didn’t leap away.
His left hand caught behind the Eel’s head as it cleared the shelf. His right clamped farther down the slick body. The Beast twisted hard enough to slap water across the boards.
Against a normal worker, it would’ve been violent.
Against him, it was weight with teeth.
Severin drove it against the sound section of the shelf without crushing it. The timber groaned under the sudden load. The Eel bucked, tail hammering his forearm, jaws snapping uselessly away from his hand.
He tightened only enough to stop the turn.
Dense black mist spilled over his fingers.
It crawled against the wet air, swallowed the Eel’s scales, then wrapped the entire struggling body. Sound dulled inside it. The tail vanished last.
[Void Devour successful.]
[Target: Riverlace Eel]
The shelf was suddenly light under his hands.
How long?
[Noema: Estimated digestion time: 0.0042231 seconds, My Lord.]
Digest.
[Digestion Target: Riverlace Eel]
[Digestion initiated.]
The answer arrived before the water he’d splashed onto the shelf finished running off the boards.
[Digestion Target: Riverlace Eel]
[Digestion Progress: 100%]
[Digestion complete.]
[New Trait Acquired.]
[Trait: Riverlace Lateral-Line Pressure Pattern]
[Noema: The Riverlace Eel’s 660 Core Essence has entered the Void Reserve, My Lord.]
He let the new pattern sit untouched. Later.
The old report had only said no Original had been observed.
Was it right?
[Noema: The Riverlace Eel possessed no Original Skill, My Lord.]
Good.
Black mist folded over Severin’s eyes and jaw again. The clear membranes disappeared. The shallow pits closed. His normal face returned.
"Done," he said.
Alicia’s ears rose. "Already, Master?"
"The dungeon is Rank E."
Saelith looked at the wet shelf, then at the empty channel. "Good. Now don’t let the easy part make you careless with the expensive part."
"Show me."
They waited until the water settled before bringing anyone closer.
The claimwright crew arrived not long after first light, the senior clerk riding with them and a locked payment packet secured under his coat.
"Marienne approved the packet?" Severin asked.
"Yes, sir. Before we left."
The foreman glanced at the shelf and started talking timber.
"Outer beam’s gone at the split. Brace can be replaced, but if that seat under the stone lip is soft, the written price is useless."
"Nobody loads it yet," Severin said.
He crouched beside the damaged section. The split had darkened with water, and the brace had pulled just enough to put the outer edge under an ugly angle.
He set his palm against the connected shelf.
Fault Appraisal opened the structure in his awareness.
The cracked brace was carrying less than it looked like it was carrying. The dangerous part was the outer timber beside it. Load that section before the replacement seated properly and the failure would run toward the water edge.
Severin lifted his hand.
"The sound seat is farther in than the old brace. Put the replacement there first. Don’t load the outer edge until it’s tied back."
The foreman squinted at the stone, crouched, and knocked mud away with the butt of a tool.
"Huh. There it is."
Saelith was already looking at something else.
Water.
She crouched beside the channel and touched the surface with 2 bare fingers, then ran those fingers along a damp seam where stone met timber.
"If we move the seat inward, I need to know whether you close this gap with it."
The foreman frowned. "It’s a gap."
"It’s carrying water."
"It’s leaking water."
Saelith glanced at him. "Those aren’t always the same thing."
The foreman opened his mouth, thought better of it, and looked at Severin.
Severin nodded toward Saelith. "Water first."
Her gaze returned to the channel.
She checked the visible flow, walked the edge, looked at the silt caught behind the broken brace, and only then removed her glove fully. Her palm settled against wet stone.
Saelith became still. Watershed Sense took hold.
Tiny beads of water along the seam trembled.
Her palm shifted downstream. Her gaze followed the seam beneath the water.
"Keep that gap open," she said. "Seat the new timber farther in, but don’t pack the lower channel shut. This flow feeds the shallow run below the shelf. Close it and you’ll move pressure into the bank instead."
The foreman scratched his beard. "That leaves me less timber to bite against."
"Then brace higher."
"Costs the same?"
He wasn’t asking Saelith.
The senior clerk answered from behind them. "The authorized ceiling is 220 Stellar Gold. If your scope changes, you stop."
The foreman looked at the shelf again. "Doesn’t change. Just makes my men swear more."
"They can swear," Severin said. "Keep the water open."
Work began.
The broken outer timber came out first. The crew cleared the old seat without dropping debris into the channel. A new brace followed. When they brought the heaviest replacement timber down from the cart, 4 men slowed at the narrow approach and started arguing about how to turn it without putting someone over the wet edge.
Severin stepped between them.
"Show me the seat."
The foreman pointed.
Severin took the timber near its center and lifted.
Conversation stopped.
He didn’t throw it around. He didn’t need to. The weight that had stalled 4 men became something he could hold steady while the foreman guided the far end past the stone lip.
"Down 2 fingers. Now inward. Hold... there."
Severin shifted it into the sound seat and kept it still until the crew wedged and fixed it.
A worker stared at him.
Alicia caught the look and grinned. "Master makes that face happen a lot."
The worker decided his hammer needed his full attention.
By early afternoon, the shelf no longer complained under careful load.
Saelith crouched at the channel again, watched the lower gap, and ran her fingertips through the passing water. The flow still moved beneath the new brace.
"Good," she said.
The foreman wiped his forehead. "That’s a beautiful word when money’s involved."
The senior clerk looked to Severin.
Severin crossed the repaired shelf, put his weight where the foreman indicated, then nodded.
The senior clerk opened the locked packet and passed 220 Stellar Gold to the foreman. The foreman counted the stack and checked the seals. The clerk took the signed contractor receipt and folded it into his case.
"That leaves the acquisition account at 4,976 Stellar Gold," the clerk said.
"Put the receipt in company records."
"Yes, sir."
Severin changed out of the wet river leathers before they secured the claim. Saelith changed back into her dry field clothes as well. Alicia packed the rope, hooks, and lamps, then wrapped the damp river leathers separately. She locked the outer gate and returned the key ring to her belt.
"Siltglass is shut, Master."
"Keep the keys."
Her tail lifted. "Yes, Master."
Severin, Alicia, and Saelith rode the same 3 horses back to Copperglass and returned them to the stable. The senior clerk came back with the claimwright crew, the receipt still in his case. Alicia shouldered the packed river gear. The 4 of them walked back to Greycross. In the north records room, the clerk filed the receipt with the company papers, and Saelith set the field copy beside the original hazard folio. Alicia took the wet leathers and the rest of the gear toward the wash alcove.
The day had left mud on boots and river stink in hair.
Severin washed, ate, drank, and changed.
So did Saelith.
Alicia was waiting outside the north records room when Saelith emerged with damp hair combed back from her pointed ears. The Elf had changed into clean clothes. Her field calm had returned almost perfectly.
Almost.
Her eyes found Severin and stayed there.
Alicia noticed.
A silver ear dipped. Her tail gave a single, slow flick against her calf.
Then she looked up at Severin. "I’ll stay on the landing and keep the watcher messages moving, Master."
Saelith’s gaze moved to her.
Alicia smiled, bright and just a little too sweet. "If Master needs me, Master knows where I am."
"I do."
"Yes, Master."
She walked away before the tip of her tail could betray anything else.
Saelith watched her go.
"Subtle."
"Alicia?"
"Painfully."
Severin stepped closer. "You were staring."
Saelith’s attention came back to him. "I was."
"Why?"
A longer pause than she used in the field.
"Because I watched you work all day, and at some point I got tired of being the only thing you weren’t touching."
There it was.
Her voice had lost the careful edges she used around everyone else.
Severin hooked 2 fingers beneath her chin and tipped her face up.
"And now?"
Her breath changed when his thumb passed over her lower lip.
"Now you’re no longer working."
He kissed her.
Saelith answered before another heartbeat passed.
Severin broke the kiss only long enough to pick up a lidded jug of warm water, a basin, clean cloths, and a dry towel from the wash alcove. He carried them into the larger upper room down the passage. Saelith followed and closed the south door behind them.
He latched it.
The room held a single heavy chair near the east wall. Severin checked the floor with his boot and shifted the chair until its back sat firm against the wall. All 4 legs sat flat. He put the basin, jug, cloths, and towel on the north side, clear of where their feet would be.
They removed their boots and set them along the south wall. Saelith leaned briefly against the closed door.
"You check furniture before you kiss me again."
"I know what I’m about to do to it."
Her eyebrows rose.
"That one," she said softly, "I like."
Severin sat.
"Come here."
She did.
Saelith stopped between his knees. He put both hands on her waist and pulled her closer until her thighs touched his. She bent to kiss him, but his hand closed at her nape and held her a breath away until her eyes narrowed.
Then he took her mouth.
Her hands settled on his shoulders. The kiss deepened. She breathed through her nose, controlled at first, then less so when his right hand slid up beneath her coat and closed around her breast through the tunic.
"Mmh..."
He squeezed.
Her fingers tightened.
Severin opened her coat and pushed it from her shoulders. Saelith pulled her arms free without breaking the kiss. He set the coat against the south wall beside their boots, stripped off his own coat, then her tunic. His shirt followed, each piece going into the same neat row against the wall.
She looked down at his chest for a moment.
"Still admiring?"
"Assessing."
"Liar."
Saelith’s mouth twitched. "A little."
His hands closed at her waist. He guided her down over his thighs until she straddled him chest to chest.
Her knees settled outside his hips, her feet finding the floor wide enough to support her. Severin’s back stayed against the chair. The east wall behind it stopped any slide.
He kissed her neck.
"Ah..."
His mouth moved lower. He cupped her left breast, thumb dragging over the nipple until it tightened, then took it into his mouth.
Saelith inhaled sharply.
"Nnh... Severin."
He sucked slowly, then harder.
"Mmh... yes."
He caught the nipple between his teeth and tugged. Her shoulders jumped.
"Ah!"
She looked down at him, storm-gray eyes sharper now.
"You enjoyed that."
He bit the edge of a smile into her skin just below the breast. "I did."
"I noticed."
He moved to the other nipple and sucked until her measured breathing stopped pretending to be measured.
"Hh..."
"Still assessing?"
"Then keep going."
Severin laughed against her breast.
He kept his left arm around her back while his right hand worked her trousers and underclothes down. Saelith lifted each foot long enough for him to pull the fabric free, then planted it again outside his hip. She rose against his support just enough for him to strip off his own trousers and underclothes. He set the last clothes along the south wall. When she settled back over him, bare skin met bare skin from chest to thigh.
She was already wet.
Severin slid his right hand between them.
2 fingers parted her. His thumb found her clit.
Saelith’s forehead touched his.
"Ah... slower... just a breath."
He rubbed lightly, deliberately teasing.
"Mmh..."
Her hips rolled against his hand.
He increased the pressure.
"Ngh..."
He slipped 2 fingers inside her.
"Ah...!"
Saelith’s hands moved from his shoulders to the chair back behind him, then immediately returned because the angle pulled her too far forward.
Severin caught her waist.
"Use me. Not the chair."
"Mmh... understood."
Her arms went around his neck.
He fingered her with slow, deep strokes while his thumb kept working her clit. Wetness spread over his knuckles.
"Hh... Severin..."
"Look at me."
She did.
"Ah..."
A tremor ran through her thighs. Her next breath snagged before she could shape a word.
"You make patience difficult."
"Good."
"Nnh... insufferable."
His fingers curled.
"Ah!"
"Insufferable?"
"Nnh... very."
He rubbed her clit harder.
Saelith’s eyes widened. "Ahh... Severin..."
"Thought so."
She kissed him to stop the conversation.
He let her.
Not for long.
Severin withdrew his fingers, gripped her hip, and lifted her enough to align himself beneath her. Saelith’s knees stayed wide outside his hips. Both feet remained planted. She reached down, guided him into place, then put her hand back on his shoulder.
He pulled her down.
"Nnnh...!"
Wet heat closed tight around him.
Severin stopped only when she was fully seated.
Saelith’s eyes closed.
"Hah..."
His left hand closed over her nape. His right settled on her hip.
"Eyes."
They opened.
"Mmh... I know."
"Then move."
She lifted.
He drove up.
CLAP!
"Ah!"
Saelith dropped back down hard, and her body gripped him on the way.
"Ngh... harder."
Severin’s right hand left her hip long enough to strike her left breast with an open palm.
SLAP!
"Ahh!"
Warm color spread across the pale skin.
He caught the breast immediately after, squeezed it, then thrust up again.
"Mmh... yes..."
Saelith rode down to meet him.
CLAP!
The chair creaked against the east wall.
"Hah... ah..."
His left hand closed more firmly at her nape. His right slid between them and found her clit again.
"Severin..."
"Keep your feet down."
"They’re... ngh..."
He rubbed in a hard circle as he drove upward.
"Ah! Ah..."
Her vagina clenched around him, a strong pulling contraction that followed him through each short withdrawal.
"That’s it."
"Mmh... don’t... don’t slow."
He had no intention of slowing.
Saelith tried to rise higher. Severin caught her waist and cut the range down, forcing short, hard strokes that kept her full.
SCHLK!
"Nnh!"
Her nails pressed into his shoulders.
"Hah... again."
He struck her right breast.
SLAP!
"Ahh!"
The sound broke into a breathless laugh and vanished.
"You planned this chair."
"I planned the wall."
"Of course you did... ah..."
He kissed her hard.
"Mmmh..."
His thumb pressed her clit.
"Ah... ah... wait, I’m..."
Her thighs jerked.
SPLASH!
Warm fluid burst between them, wetting Severin’s lower abdomen, her inner thighs, and the front edge of the chair.
Saelith gasped, eyes dropping between them.
"Hh... Severin..."
Her hips jolted against him.
He kept thrusting.
"Ngh! Severin..."
His grip tightened at her nape.
"Ah!"
Her face tightened. She pressed her forehead to his for a breath, then lifted it again because he still had her nape.
"Mmh... harder."
He gave her harder.
CLAP!
"Ahh!"
The chair creaked hard against the east wall without shifting.
Severin slapped her left breast again.
SLAP!
"Nnh...!"
He caught the reddened curve in his palm, rubbed the nipple with his thumb, and drove up without giving her a clean beat to recover.
"Ah... Severin... ah..."
"Come for me."
Saelith’s mouth opened.
"I... ngh..."
His thumb circled her clit again.
"Ah!"
Her body locked.
SPLASH!
The gush struck the chair seat and ran over the edge to the floor as an orgasm tore through her. Her vagina clamped down so hard Severin felt the rhythm pull at him with every contraction.
"Ahhh...! Severin!"
"Mmh... ah... can’t..."
"You can."
"Nnh... too... ah..."
He kept her seated while the contractions tore through her and continued fucking her with short strokes.
"Hah!"
"Ah... ah..."
"Severin..."
"Keep taking me."
"Mmh... yes."
Her muscles kept squeezing him, drawing tight around his cock as if her body wanted to hold every inch in place.
The pressure finally broke him.
"Stay down."
"Ah..."
Severin drove deep and came inside her.
His hips didn’t stop.
His release spilled into her while the short, hard strokes kept coming.
Saelith shuddered.
"Nnh... you’re still..."
"Yes."
"Hah... gods..."
He cut off the careful sentence with a kiss.
"Mmh..."
He stayed buried inside her and drove up again before her breathing could settle. Severin’s right hand returned to her clit while his left kept control at her nape. Saelith’s thighs trembled, but her feet stayed planted and her hips started moving again with him.
"Ah... I can feel it..."
"Good."
"Inside... ngh... and you’re still hard."
"You sound surprised."
"I’m trying not to be."
He thrust harder.
"Ah!"
"Failed."
She laughed breathlessly. "Mmh... yes."
SCHLK!
Wet sound filled the space between their bodies now. Her arousal, the fluid already soaking them, and his semen made every stroke slicker and messier.
"Ah... ah... ah..."
He slapped her right breast.
SLAP!
"Ngh!"
Heat spread across the skin under his palm. He squeezed the reddened breast immediately afterward and caught the nipple between finger and thumb.
"Severin... harder. Please."
He drove up.
CLAP!
"Ahh!"
Her breasts bounced between them, both reddened from his palm. Severin bent and sucked the left nipple again while his hips kept driving.
"Mmh... yes... keep..."
He sucked the sensitive nipple hard enough to make her arch.
"Ah!"
Saelith’s arms locked around his neck.
"Hh... I’m close."
"Already?"
"Don’t sound pleased with yourself."
He rubbed her clit faster.
"Ngh...!"
"Too late."
"Ah... arrogant..."
Her sentence died when he drove deep.
"Hah!"
"Look at me."
She forced her eyes open.
"Mmh... I’m looking."
"Don’t hold it."
"Severin..."
"Now."
Her body answered before her mouth did.
SPLASH!
A gush splattered the already wet chair and floor. Saelith came hard, thighs shaking, her vagina contracting in hard waves that pulled at his cock with each stroke.
"Ahhh...!"
"Nnh... Severin... Severin..."
"Hah... I can’t... hold..."
"Don’t."
"Ah...!"
He kept her seated and drove through the contractions until his own control broke.
Severin buried himself as deep as the chair let him and came inside her.
The hard rhythm broke there. His hips softened into smaller movements. Saelith sagged against his chest, forehead on his shoulder, breath hot across his skin.
"Hh..."
"Mmh..."
"I hate how satisfied you look."
"You haven’t looked yet."
She lifted her head with visible effort.
He was satisfied.
Saelith closed her eyes again. "I knew."
Severin kissed her temple.
They stayed joined until the strongest contractions faded. His hands moved from control to support, his left arm around her back and his right hand under her thigh.
"Legs?"
Saelith breathed in, then out.
"Unreliable."
"Then they’re not your problem."
He withdrew.
A thick bead gathered at her opening. Saelith flinched at the sudden emptiness. "Ah..."
Severin stood with her in his arms before her knees had to prove anything.
"I could’ve walked."
"Not before I got bored."
A breathless laugh escaped her.
He carried her to the north side of the room, set her on the dry towel, and slid a clean cloth beneath her thighs. Only then did semen and arousal begin slipping down her legs onto the cloth.
Her legs were still trembling.
He tipped warm water from the jug into the basin.
Saelith looked down at the soaked chair, the wet floor around it, then at herself.
"We made a mess."
"You made most of it."
She gave him a long look.
"Technically true," she admitted.
He cleaned her first.
He wiped the mess from her thighs and cleaned between them gently. Her breath caught when the warm cloth passed over her still-sensitive clit.
"Mmh... easy."
"I am."
"Your definition has changed in the last hour."
"This is easy."
She huffed a quiet laugh.
After Saelith was clean enough to dress, Severin washed himself. He folded each wet cloth over on itself, set them together for the laundry, and wiped the chair and floor until nothing slick remained underfoot.
They drank water.
Saelith dressed slowly. Her legs worked. They simply didn’t approve of speed.
Severin fastened his shirt.
She watched him from the chair, now sitting normally rather than straddling him.
"That foreman will complain about the higher brace for a week," she said.
"He got paid."
"Then 3 days."
Severin laughed.
Saelith’s mouth curved. He bent and kissed her.
They finished dressing. Severin carried the folded cloths downstairs, left them with the laundry, washed his hands, and returned to the north upper landing. Saelith followed after a final drink of water and pulled the private door shut behind her.
Alicia was already moving toward him.
Her expression killed the last of the private warmth before she spoke.
"The wagon moved, Master."
Severin stopped.
"When?"
"Minutes ago, Master. Same barred wagon from the old lime weighhouse. Our road watcher kept it in sight from the moment it turned out."
"Captives?"
Alicia shook her head. "Empty, Master. The rear angle opened when it turned. Nobody in the compartment."
Saelith moved up beside him, slower than usual but steady.
"Which road?"
Alicia glanced at her, then back to Severin. "It passed the road nearest Limeback, Master. It didn’t enter the claim."
Empty.
Either the wagon had unloaded before the current watch settled on it, or the captives had been moved out through the weighhouse while the wagon itself stayed put.
He had no proof which.
"Don’t stop it," Severin said. "1 watcher follows the wagon. 1 stays on the weighhouse. I want every road it takes, every handler, every stop, every transfer written down."
Alicia nodded. "Yes, Master."
"Nobody goes underground at Limeback. Nobody touches the claim tonight."
"Understood, Master."
Alicia turned for the stairs. Severin stepped back into the north records room and opened the road ledger to the route beyond Limeback.