---
Auri did not speak. Her expression remained calm. But her eyes said what her mouth did not.
She believes in her own spine.
Sekhmet returned his gaze to Mira.
"I will not ask further," he said.
Mira's shoulders loosened slightly, as if she had expected a fight and was relieved to find a man who did not need to win every conversation with force.
Sekhmet's voice stayed flat, businesslike.
"You want cultivation access," he said. "Protection. Resources. Ten years of service."
"Yes," Mira replied immediately. "In exchange, you get a loyal retainer. I am good at organizing people. I can read contracts. I can manage ledgers. I can remember information that others forget."
Auri's gaze sharpened again at the word remember.
Ink Memory.
Sekhmet noted it.
Then he let Mira go quiet.
Because he was not here to buy a revenge plot.
He was here to buy a foundation.
And the foundation he needed tonight was not ink.
It was blood.
His gaze shifted to the twins.
