“I...nothing,” Rowena said rather lamely. Her cheeks burned as she realized that she didn’t have a good, ready excuse for being caught out like this– ‘always have an alibi’ needed to be on her list of regular practices if she was going to continue down the path of secretseeking.

Lorimer said nothing, but simply waited. The silence stretched out before him like an endless, uncrossable plain, making her feel deeply uncomfortable.

The next person who speaks, loses, Cuth warned, but it was impossible to continue on in this way– sitting awkwardly on the plush couch, looking up at the stern, bespectacled man in the doorway. He was gently lit by Kieran’s little glowing orb, but the pinkish light did nothing to soften his features. Rather, he seemed more ethereal and ghostly than before.

“The door was open,” she finally said, desperate to end the silence. She did try to keep her voice confident and assured, but she wasn’t sure it was really working. “Or, rather… absent.”

Lorimer maintained the silence for another agonizing heartbeat, and then suddenly seemed to relax, if only a fraction. “Mal has always been a thorn in my side.”

Rowena wasn’t sure what to say to that. She really wanted to ask him about the letter, but obviously couldn’t do so without confirming his suspicions about her and her Class.

Fortunately, Lorimer continued, crossing his right arm across his chest and holding his left elbow, pontificating with the left hand. “This room is usually off limits to guests, but I suppose I can see why you might have gotten confused.”

Rowena’s eye was caught by a heavy black ring on his left finger– it had some sort of symbol on it, but she couldn’t quite make it out. She’d need to get closer.

“If you don’t like guests in it, why did you have Kieran in here earlier?” she asked, standing. She strained her eyes towards his finger, trying to get a look at the strange ring without being too obvious about it.

“Kieran is… your friend is unique,” he said simply, a small smile twitching at the corner of his mouth as he relaxed ever so slightly. She wasn’t sure the man ever fully relaxed, though his aura was always quite calm.

Rowena didn’t particularly want to talk about Kieran. She didn’t know why Lorimer was so interested in him, but his interest concerned her. She wondered what it might mean for their future. They were already so beholden to so many other things– to find Tommie’s murderer and bring him to justice, to deliver Leo’s necklace to Ada, a quest that seemed to distant and unimportant that she wondered if they’d ever see it through. The attention of a mysterious and seemingly powerful stranger? Not exactly what she’d had in mind for their arrival in Arcania.

“Your inn is very uncomfortable,” she said instead.

This caught him off guard, and he gave a snort of amusement. “I apologize that it doesn’t meet your standards. I typically have… different clientele.”

“What sort?” she asked, taking a few steps in his direction. A little closer…

Lorimer crossed his arms in front of his chest, unfortunately hiding the ring.

It’s probably nothing, anyway, she thought with a sigh.

“I don’t see that that’s any of your business,” he replied with a raised eyebrow, eyeing her skeptically.

“Fair enough,” she said with what she hoped was a nonchalant shrug. “I’ll be going, then.”

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With a quick motion of her hand, she guided the glowing orb towards the door, trying to pass by him as closely as possible– and sure enough, her closeness seemed to make him uncomfortable, and he shifted away, moving his hands to his sides. Squinting, she tried to make out the design on the ring as he moved, but the light was slightly too diffuse to make out the details– it just looked like a heavy black blob.

Disappointed, she made as if to continue up to her room, but to her surprise, Lorimer stopped her with a hand. “Where did you obtain this werelight?” he asked.

She frowned, noting the previously unknown term for the small glowing ball. “Kieran made it,” she said shortly.

He looked at it with curiosity. “And it still glows? Though he’s away, and presumably asleep?”

“Seems like it,” she replied as curtly as possible, trying to imply her displeasure with discussing her friend.

“Interesting,” he murmured, and then turned as if to move further into the library, but not before waving her away.

Rowena felt herself burn with indignation– she was no child to be simply dismissed!-- but Cuth sent strong waves of disapproval through her mind and she swallowed her protests.

Then, Cuth quickly got her attention as they stalked out of the library and made their way back up to the shared room.

Did you not see that? he said. His tone was excited, in contrast with his usual attitude of holding himself above such base emotions. She was beginning to think he’d probably been quite insufferable when he had his own body, and now they shared a mind.

What? You only see what I see, she said grumpily as she opened the door. Kieran, Mattie, and Sorel were all still sleeping, thankfully.

Sometimes I see more than you, obviously, he scoffed. I have no idea what you would do without me.

Have some peace and quiet? she mused, but he ignored her.

His ring. It was the same symbol as the wax seal on the letter from Martha! Cuth said triumphantly.

Are you sure? Rowena asked, beginning to feel a little excited in spite of herself. She wondered briefly if his feelings were catching, given that they occurred in the same physical space as her own. What does that mean?

Of course I’m sure, he replied. While you were busy being awkward, I looked. It was the same fat pyramid.

Rowena thought about this for a moment as she pulled back the sheets to her small, stiff bed. So… we knew they were connected because of the letter, but… a shared symbol implies that maybe it’s more than just a simple correspondence between two acquaintances.

Exactly, Cuth said, even more excited than before. Why use a shared symbol between just two people? A wax seal like that means—

— a conspiracy! Rowena finished the thought, her heart and mind racing with the possibilities. Or some kind of… organization?

And what better thing for a Secretseeker to investigate? Cuth replied.

I can’t think of anything. Except my brother’s murder, she added hastily, feeling a little dismayed by her excitement. Her first duty, always, was to Tommie. Though, in a sense, both Tommie and Mason’s deaths had been caused by presumably the same thing that had altered the Heartstone and gave them these strange, intense powers. Because of that, she was starting to suspect that everything might be connected in some way.

But first, she needed to see about using one of her newest Abilities, Throw Consciousness. She was extremely curious to know what Lorimer might have hidden away under that trap door.

With a sigh, Rowena leaned back onto her bed and took a deep breath, not knowing that she was about to have an extremely jarring experience.