MAILAH FELT THE SHIFT before she understood it. The warmth that had followed them through the museum—leftover heat from a stolen kiss, from shared laughter and the soft, rare ease between them—thinned, as if a window had been opened to let something colder in.
She followed Grayson's gaze.
At the center of the room, in a simple glass case, lay a disk etched with infernal runes. The surface was matte, drinking in the light rather than reflecting it. The runes seemed to shift when she stared too long, as if they were only pretending to be still.
The placard beneath it read:
Relic of the Infernal Wars
Origin: Unknown
Recovered from a private collection
Grayson went very still.
"That was mine," he said quietly.
Mailah's breath caught. "You… remember it?"
"I remember holding it," he replied, his voice low with disbelief. "I remember what it does."
"And… how it got here?" she asked gently.
"No."
The word came out sharper than intended.
