The office was still locked. Starling folded her arms as Jacek rattled the handle one more time, as if the door might suddenly change its mind.
"What the fuck?" He muttered, glaring at the door like it had personally offended him. The signet ring was still clutched in his hand. They wanted to hand it off and get paid.
They stood there for a moment too long, like maybe one of them would knock again. But no one moved.
They trooped out back to the mess hall; they slumped into seats one by one. No one said much. Chairs scraped. Ledo tapped his foot. Neri picked at a hangnail. Tenna busied herself with steeping tea she wouldn't drink. Ridge just stared into space.
Starling sat between Cade and Brin, her spine ramrod straight despite the fatigue dragging at her limbs. Her cup of tansy tea sat untouched, growing cold.
She told herself it was just a delay. Elihu was probably meeting someone. Or hungover. Or dead in a ditch. It was hard to tell with people like him.
But then the front doors opened. She looked up... and froze.
Lucanis swept through first, black-clad and silent as a knife's shadow. Beside him was Viago, relaxed but razor-eyed, his coat immaculate, Fifth Talon. Then the First Talon, her expression unreadable. Behind them came the Seventh Talon, four handlers Starling recognised by sight but not name, and two more senior Crows she didn't know at all. They moved with grim purpose, a cluster of vipers heading upstairs. Wren and Jaiteh followed a moment later, and then Illario Dellamorte.
None of them so much as glanced toward the mess. No Elihu among them.
The silence around the table thickened. Everyone saw it. No one commented. Starling felt the slow ripple of unease pass between them, one glance to another. Jacek's fingers tightened around the ring. Ridge looked like he might be sick. Alis pushed her plate away. Vasha swore under her breath.
Starling's stomach coiled tight. Her heart ticked faster, not panic - yet - but something too close to it.
That was too many high-ranking Crows for a casual meeting. It wasn't a debrief. It wasn't a strategy session. It was a reckoning.
And Elihu wasn't there to answer for them.
No one said it aloud. But they all knew. Something was wrong. Terribly, irrevocably wrong.
Starling didn't realise she was holding her breath until Cade leaned toward her, voice low and dry.
"Still think this was a standard job?"
Her fingers curled around her cup, now stone cold. She didn't answer. There was nothing to say. But Maker help them if it was about the diplomat. Maker help them all.
--
Lucanis stood near the window, arms folded as the morning heat began to bleed through the old stone walls. The room was packed - Teia at the head of the table, Caterina seated with her usual imperious calm, Viago beside her, fingers steepled, quiet. Illario lounged with studied carelessness on the far side, tossing a knife between his fingers like this was all terribly routine.
It was not.
The Seventh Talon's voice cut through the low hum of speculation. "The diplomat's death is confirmed. So is the theft. The chest wasn't ransacked; it was deliberately taken. And the wards were dismantled cleanly. Not broken."
"Inside job," Wren said flatly. "Or someone with intel. Possibly both."
Lucanis's jaw ticked. "How long before the wrong people start asking questions?"
"They already are," Teia replied, setting a paper on the table. "The Guard has no leads. But they know the man was under our protection. And if they think we let him die..."
"They'll retaliate," Viago murmured. "Or worse, they'll stop paying us."
Caterina's fingers drummed the table once. "The diplomat was not some borderland bureaucrat. He had friends. And the artefacts -"
"They weren't baubles," Wren finished grimly. "We're still identifying what's missing. But there was at least one object the Chantry was sniffing around for."
"That narrows the field," Lucanis said. "Who would be reckless enough to kill a protected target and steal something so easily traceable?"
"Reckless or desperate," Jaiteh said. "Or both."
"Or smart," Illario offered. "Let's not rule out competence. Makes the hunt more interesting."
Lucanis shot him a look, and Illario only smiled, sharp and amused.
"We don't know who did it," Teia continued. "But it had to be four at minimum. Maybe more. The manor was too well-guarded for less."
"Could be a faction," Jaiteh said. "Not a guild. A breakaway group. Maybe even inside the Crows."
A silence dropped then, sudden and heavy.
"No." That was Caterina, voice quiet but final. "We do not cannibalise our own without proof."
Lucanis didn't speak. He could feel Viago glance at him, the faintest shift in posture. But he was staring at the map Teia had unrolled, showing the diplomat's last known locations, his route through Treviso, the marker on the estate.
Someone knew his exact movements. Someone skilled enough to get in, kill, and vanish with a protected chest.
Someone possibly Crow-trained...
Lucanis's voice was low when it came. "Do we know who assigned the protection?"
Teia nodded. "I did."
"Then who had access to the file?"
"Half the Talons," Viago said, grim. "And every senior handler."
"And we're sure there wasn't a leak?" Jaiteh asked. "Or someone cut a deal and didn't realise what they were giving up?"
"Still checking," Teia said. "But whoever did this… we either find them, or we clean up whatever mess they left. Quietly."
Lucanis exhaled through his nose, one slow breath. This wasn't an isolated job gone wrong. This was a trigger point. A fire waiting to catch.
He didn't like the feel of it. Not at all.
--
They all stared at the final edge of the First Talon's cloak disappearing up the stairs. The silence they left behind felt… sharp. Pressurised Like a room after a storm, where you couldn't quite tell if the air was safe to breathe.
Starling sat stiffly at the long table, her hands curled tight around her cup even though she hadn't sipped from it.
Ridge leaned forward, his voice low but urgent. "Split up. Find out what's going on."
Everyone tensed, listening.
His gaze flicked toward Ledo and Vasha. "Back to the drop point. Get the chest back if it's still there. Stash it somewhere safe. We don't move it again until we know what we're dealing with."
They nodded and slipped out without argument.
Ridge turned to her next. "Starling. Tenna, go to Elihu's home. See if he's there. If he's not-" Ridge hesitated. "-figure out what you can."
Starling's stomach clenched. "You think he ran?"
"I think I don't know what to think," Ridge muttered. "But something's wrong. Really wrong."
Tenna was already rising beside her, face tight, silent for once. Starling followed, heart ticking faster now.
"And I'll break into his office," Ridge added, already thinking ahead. "Jacek, watch the damn door for me."
Jacek gave a sharp nod. "I'll knock if someone comes, scream if I get bored."
A dry snort passed through the group, but it died quickly. There was no real humour here. Just old reflex.
Starling's fingers ghosted the edge of the table. She met Ridge's eyes for a moment, and he gave her the smallest nod - go. She and Tenna slipped out the side door and into the morning haze.
The streets of Treviso felt different now. The warm light, the cheerful bustle, it all rang false in her ears. Like a stage set on the verge of burning. Every passerby looked like they might be watching. Every alleyway felt too narrow.
"What if he's already gone?" Tenna said under her breath as they walked. "What if he set this up and vanished?"
Starling didn't answer. She was thinking about the guards. The diplomat. The chest full of things they were never supposed to touch. And Elihu, with that smooth smile and promise of coin, vanishing like smoke.
She touched the gold earring in her ear - the one her father had given her - and tried not to imagine how far this could fall.
She had a bad feeling.
--
Starling hadn't expected quaint. But that was the first word that came to mind as she stood in front of Elihu's modest little home tucked between a baker's and a dye shop that smelled aggressively of turmeric and dead flowers.
They'd only known where he lived because Tenna had fucked him. She had always had a thing for older men. Though Starling supposed she couldn't talk, given how old Lucanis and Viago were.
Tenna knocked. No answer. Starling gave it a beat. Two. Nothing.
Tenna's brows lifted. "Want to bet he's not home or bleeding out in the bath?"
"You've seen him bathe?"
Tenna grinned sideways. "I've seen a lot of things."
Starling snorted. "Right. You and Handlers..."
Tenna looked offended. "Only the interesting ones."
"Elihu?"
"He has… presence." She wiggled her eyebrows. "Older men, remember?"
Starling just rolled her eyes and stepped around to check the side window. Drawn curtains. Nothing that screamed immediate carnage. No smell of rot. No blood-smeared handprints. Just quiet.
"I'll pick the lock," she muttered, kneeling before the door. "You keep watch."
"Careful," Tenna warned. "He's paranoid."
"Poison darts paranoid or pie-in-the-face paranoid?"
"Poison darts, obviously."
Starling huffed, pulling out her tools. "Charming."
The lock clicked open with a soft snick, and the door creaked inward… untouched. Not even bolted from the inside.
She blinked. "That's not ominous at all."
They both stared at the open door like it might breathe. Then Starling did what she always did when something made her nervous: tested it.
She stuck her foot over the threshold, stepped down, and immediately pulled back.
No darts. No gas. No shrill alarms or spring-loaded net traps.
Still, they were careful. Starling's gaze swept the frame, the hinges, the corners of the ceiling where wires might hide. Nothing obvious. Still, she stepped lightly.
Inside was… normal. Plain wood floors. A low-burning hearth. Paperwork spread across a desk near the window. No signs of a struggle. No signs of him. Tenna stepped in behind her, quiet for once, her eyes scanning.
"Maybe he's mellowed since I was last here," she murmured.
Starling gave her a look. "Unlikely."
They started to move deeper into the house. The air had that stillness that only came when no one had opened a window or door in a day or more. Too still.
"Doesn't look ransacked," Starling said quietly.
They passed through the front room, through a short hallway, into the bedroom and washroom. No blood. No body. No Elihu. Just a few signs of life - dried ink in the well, an unwashed mug on the table, clothes folded neatly in a trunk by the bed.
He hadn't packed. He hadn't run. He'd just… vanished. And Starling didn't trust that one bit.
She exchanged a glance with Tenna before moving back into the front room, heart beating with that dull, growing certainty that they were well and truly screwed. They didn't say anything more; they didn't need to. The shift in their breathing was enough. The game had changed.
Starling moved to the desk while Tenna took the bedroom. It was already tidy, too tidy, but she crouched anyway and began to go through the drawers. Ink bottles. Blank paper. A ledger that had several pages torn out, not cleanly, either. She ran a finger along the ragged edge.
"Tenna," she called softly.
Tenna was already digging through a wardrobe. "Some of his clothes are missing."
Starling's spine prickled. "What?"
Tenna turned, a dark look in her eyes. "Not everything. Just enough. A traveller's pack worth. Like he wanted it to look like he hadn't left."
Starling stood and moved toward a small shelf near the hearth, scanning titles: strategy, poisons, trade routes, lyrium flow reports. A few books were missing, gaps too narrow to be neat but too wide to be overlooked. And in one of the gaps, a faint outline of dust where something rectangular used to sit.
"He took things," she murmured, more to herself than anything.
"Or someone else did," Tenna said. She had found a hidden drawer beneath the bed, but it was empty, dustless. "Someone knew where to look."
Starling moved to the window. The shutters were closed, but when she ran her finger along the sill, it came away clean. Someone had opened them recently.
"Tenna…" Starling turned back. "Do you think he… knew what he was doing?"
Tenna didn't answer right away. Just kept staring at the empty drawer, her brow furrowed deep. Finally, she said, "If this was a setup, Star, it was a clean one. No notes, no mistakes. Like he's done it before."
Starling's jaw tightened. "So either he took what mattered and ran…"
"Or someone came in and erased him."
Either way, they were alone now. She should have asked more questions. Should have pushed harder when it felt off. Too late now.
She walked back to the desk and opened the ledger again, flipping through pages, hoping for anything - a name, a location, a sigil pressed into wax - but it was scrubbed.
"Nothing."
"We need to get back," Starling said again. "The others need to know."
Tenna nodded grimly. "And if Elihu shows up?"
Starling's mouth tightened. "Doubt he will."
Not here. Not again. Not until he wanted to. Unless he really had been erased.