The guard swallowed and straightened. "She was playing, right there. We were positioned as always. No one entered. No one left. No disturbance."
"No disturbance," Thessian repeated.
"Yes."
Silence stretched.
Thessian stepped closer, close enough that the guard's breath hitched.
"You're telling me a child vanished from the center of this courtyard—surrounded by trained wolves—without any of you noticing anything?"
The guard's throat worked. "We… we didn't—"
"Didn't what?" Thessian's voice dropped lower, carrying something dangerous beneath it. "Didn't hear anything? Didn't smell anything? Didn't feel anything?"
The guard hesitated.
That hesitation was the crack.
"What did you feel?" Thessian pressed.
"It wasn't… something I noticed right away," the guard admitted. "It was just a moment. Like everything went quiet. Not silent, just… wrong. Like something passed through, but there was nothing there."
The courtyard felt colder.
