The rain came without warning.
By dusk, the courtyard was empty, its flagstones slick with water. Lanterns glowed dimly along the Academy walls, their light distorted by the silver curtain falling from the sky. Yegr waited beneath the overhang by the eastern colonnade, hood drawn low, listening for footsteps.
Elen had sent the note at noon — just a folded scrap slid beneath his desk during lectures.
Meet me after sunset. Alone.
He had considered not going. But if there was even a small chance she was having second thoughts about the cult, he couldn't ignore it.
---
She arrived without a cloak, the rain matting her dark hair against her face. Her expression was guarded, though her breathing was calm — as if she had been standing in the downpour deliberately, letting the cold steel her nerves.
"You saw me," she said simply.
Yegr kept his voice low. "I did."
"Then you know you should have said nothing."
"I couldn't," he replied. "Because I know where that road ends."
Her eyes narrowed. "You speak like you've walked it."
"I have," Yegr said. "And I've seen you at the end of it. You won't like where you stand."
For the first time, her composure cracked — a subtle tightening around the mouth, a flicker of uncertainty in her gaze. "You talk in riddles. What do you think you know about me?"
"That you're not cruel," Yegr said. "That you believe what you're doing now has purpose. But you're being used. The Shadowed Path will take everything you have, and when they no longer need you, they'll leave your body in the mud like the rest."
She stepped closer, rain dripping from her chin. "You know their name. You shouldn't know their name."
"I know more than that," Yegr said, his voice steady. "I know about the Binding of the First Key. I know the second will be performed in the catacombs beneath the city during the harvest festival. I know that once all three are complete, Jojk will rise."
Elen stared at him — truly stared — as if trying to pierce his thoughts apart thread by thread.
"Who are you, Yegr?" she asked.
The truth hovered at the edge of his tongue, but he swallowed it. "Someone who's trying to stop what's coming."
For a moment, neither spoke. Rain hissed softly against the stone.
Then she said, almost to herself, "If you're right, then it's already too late."
"No," Yegr said firmly. "It's not."
She hesitated, then turned to leave, stepping back into the rain. Before disappearing into the shadows between the lanterns, she looked back once.
"You should be careful, Yegr. The Path doesn't forgive curiosity."
---
When she was gone, Darin stepped out from behind one of the columns, arms crossed.
"You told her way more than you told me."
Yegr didn't look at him. "Because she's the one who needs to doubt. You already do."
"And if she runs back to them and tells them everything you said?" Darin asked.
"Then we find another way," Yegr replied. "But I saw it in her eyes — she's not theirs completely. Not yet."
He pulled his hood tighter and stepped out into the rain, the night swallowing his figure. Somewhere in the city below, the first of the cult's signs would already be taking shape.
And now, they knew he was watching.