Raizen stared at her.
"Alteea? In the Underworks?"
"That's the hunch."
"What for?"
"I told you - I don't know."
The corridor stretched away on both sides of them, dim and silent, the lower archive level still humming in the background with the deep mechanical pulse of the Heart's distant operations. Raizen pushed both hands through his hair. The headache behind his eyes was settling in for a longer stay than he'd hoped.
"Why do you think she went down there?"
Kori shrugged. "The trade routes have been getting more active lately. Bigger shipments, more scrap or low-quality Luminite, more frequent. The Underworks is moving more goods than it was two months ago, and some smugglers aren't being slowed down. The patrols aren't being increased. Whoever's running things down there is operating with complete confidence. Which usually means they are either extremely dangerous or have a deal with someone from up here."
"And the Council?"
