The silence in the hall stretched taut, pulled thin by Kaelen's question. It was a commander's question, one that expected not just an answer, but submission.
Lilith's gaze met his without a flicker of fear. Fear was a luxury for those with something left to lose. She had only a century-old debt to collect.
"I am the one the townmaster hired to bring peace to his dead," she replied, her voice a low, steady murmur. "An artist."
A ghost of a smirk, so faint it was almost imaginary, touched Kaelen's lips. "An artist," he repeated, the words dripping with disbelief. "You walked into a room of seven corpses, tainted by a power that makes my knights sick to their stomachs, and your first instinct was to... what? Tidy up?"
He took another step, closing the distance between them. He was a predator, circling, testing for weakness. Lilith could feel the sheer, oppressive weight of his presence, a disciplined force that sought to dominate everything in its path. He was a cage of will and steel, and he was trying to close his door on her.
"My work is not about tidiness, Lord Commander," she said, her eyes drifting back to the lord's body. "It is about understanding. Death has a language. You only need to know how to listen."
"Then listen for me," Kaelen commanded, his voice dropping to a dangerous whisper. "Tell me something my men, the most elite trackers and investigators in the Empire, have missed."
This was the test. He saw her as either a charlatan or a tool. To survive, and more importantly, to get what she wanted, she had to prove herself the latter.
Lilith held his gaze for a long moment, then gave a slow, deliberate nod towards the lord's corpse.
"Your men searched for weapons, for signs of entry, for poisons," she stated, not as a question, but as a fact. "They did not search for gifts. The killer left one. Ask your man to look under the lord's tongue."
Kaelen's eyes narrowed. He didn't move, but a subtle flick of his fingers sent one of his cloaked soldiers forward. The soldier, with a gloved hand and a look of grim reluctance, carefully pried open the dead lord's jaw. A moment later, he recoiled, holding up a small, flat object with a pair of silver tongs.
It was a shard of bone, no bigger than a thumbnail, carved with a spiraling, hypnotic sigil.
A low murmur rippled through the Obsidian Order soldiers. They had missed it. Their commander's cold gaze remained fixed on Lilith, but something new had entered it. The dismissive curiosity was gone, replaced by a sharp, calculating interest.
"Leave us," Kaelen said, his voice cutting through the tension.
His soldiers obeyed without question, filing out of the hall and securing the doors behind them, leaving the two of them alone with the dead. The silence that returned was heavier, more intimate, and far more dangerous.
"You are no mere artist," Kaelen stated, circling her slowly. "You have knowledge of this... corruption. You can sense it. That is why you were not afraid."
"I have seen its work before," Lilith answered, her voice carefully neutral. It was a truth, but a heavily edited one.
"Good," Kaelen said, stopping directly in front of her. "Because you are going to see it again. The people who did this are a plague upon this Empire. I am the cure. My Order hunts them, but they are like ghosts, leaving only these puzzles of flesh and bone behind."
He leaned in, his voice a low, inescapable growl. "You can read these puzzles. I saw it in your eyes the moment I walked in. You are not just an artist. You are a key."
Lilith remained silent, her stillness a stark contrast to his coiled energy.
"I don't care who you are or where you come from," he continued, making his terms clear. "I don't care about your past or your secrets. All I care about is your utility. You will travel with me. You will be my compass, and you will point me to the next piece of this puzzle. In return, you will have the protection of the Obsidian Order. And you will live."
It was not an offer. It was a declaration of ownership. He was placing her in his service, a finely crafted tool for his hunt.
For a hundred years, she had wandered alone, a ghost herself, searching for a whisper of her enemies. Now, the most powerful hunter in the land was offering her a direct path to them, albeit in chains. It was a deal with a devil, a pact signed in a room full of corpses.
But she had no other choice.
"I will be your compass," Lilith said, her voice as cold and clear as the ice in his eyes. "But know this, Lord Commander. A compass only points the way. It does not promise the path is safe."
Kaelen's lips pulled back in a true, chilling smile. "Good," he said again. "I never cared for safe paths."
The alliance was forged. Not in trust or warmth, but in the shared chill of the grave.