---
The servant bowed and left.
Sekhmet leaned back slightly, letting the chair support him. He kept his face calm.
Inside, his chaos energy pressed against the poison again, keeping it from spreading further. He could feel the toxin like a constant quiet threat, like someone whispering behind him in a language meant to distract.
He ignored it.
He had learned in Lower Purgatory that pain and distraction were simply other forms of weather.
Minutes passed.
The house was quiet, but not asleep.
Somewhere, Bat Bat was probably complaining while Elena forced letters into her skull.
Somewhere, Mira was likely reading contract clauses again, because people like Mira did not trust anything until they had measured it twice.
Somewhere, the twins were together, refusing to separate, holding onto each other because the world had taken everything else.
Sekhmet waited.
Then footsteps approached the study door.
Two sets.
In sync.
The servant's voice came softly from the hall.
