Page 90 of Zenith Tower

“So your plan requires us to take it from him.”

“I can get you through the first door. I cannot help you at the second.”

I looked at the western passage. “Hale.”

“His room uses the residential master lock. Mine will open it.”

“Then open it now.”

“And every steward in the wing will know before he reaches this room.” She tapped an alcove beside the records stair. “Tomorrow I will order him brought to a supplemental review. His escort will be redirected at the western junction. I can leave him here between the two shift handovers.”

“Alone?”

“Briefly.”

“Does he know?”

“Not yet. I will tell him before morning.”

The unfinished rain-dark line warmed beneath my sleeve. I covered it with my palm.

“What about Delphine?” I asked.

The administrator’s eyes returned to the map. “Her condition has not changed.”

“I’m not leaving her here.”

“Not permanently. But if you try to reach both corridors at once, you will lose Kieran before you reach either. Bring him back first. Then we deal with the order against Delphine.”

Delphine had already been left behind once. I could not agree to do it again. Then the green-gold line tightened at mywrist. Kieran’s fear had changed. A sluggishness moved through it now, dulling the edges.

“The sedative is getting stronger,” I said.

The administrator touched the map again. “You cannot wait.”

“Kieran first,” I said. “Then Delphine.”

She nodded.

Caspian straightened. “One authorization gets us to the second door and leaves us standing in front of Marrow. That sounds less like help than an arranged confrontation.”

“Marrow would be at that door whether I helped you or not. This way, you know when and where.”

He studied her for a long moment. “You expect him to discover what you’ve done.”

“He will.”

“Then this costs you the post.”

She reached into her other sleeve and placed a narrow iron key beside the map. “Yes.”

“If you get Kieran out, use the service passage behind the records wall. It returns to the residential wing without crossing the main junction.”

“And afterward?” I asked.

“I will issue an emergency reversal of his separation order. On paper, you will be returning him to the rooms after a medically unsupported review.”

“Marrow will contest it.”