He found me in the library.
Of course he did. The library was the one place in Ironveil I had claimed as mine by default. The servants didn't venture here until the afternoon, Reva preferred the gilded cages of the upper sitting rooms, and Kael was always elsewhere, doing whatever Betas did when they weren't appearing silently in dark corridors.
Dorian Vex walked in at mid-morning with that silver-haired ease and a book already in his hand. It was a performance. I noted it immediately because he hadn't been in the house long enough to know the shelving system, which meant he'd simply grabbed the first volume closest to the door to look occupied.
He sat across from me at the heavy oak reading table without asking. I didn't look up. I kept my eyes on the parchment, my fingers tracing the edge of the page.
"You're calmer than I expected," he said, his voice a smooth baritone that felt out of place in the dusty stillness.
"I'm reading," I replied.
He smiled. Up close, he was handsome in the way that things designed to catch you are handsome; compelling, symmetrical, and slightly too perfect to be trusted.
"Sera Ashveil," he said, the name sounding like a coin being flipped. "Second daughter. No recorded gifts. No ranked position. Sent in place of her elder sister."
He tilted his head, his grey eyes scanning my face with clinical precision. "Nothing in that history explains what you are to the curse."
I turned a page, the sound of the paper crisp in the silence.
"Alpha Zoran is a generous man," Vex continued, leaning forward. "He takes care of the people under his protection. Lirien; the previous candidate is comfortable. Safe. Studied, yes, but comfortable."
"Studied," I repeated, the word tasting like copper.
"He's trying to understand the curse," Vex said. "To break it, perhaps. To free Caius from the weight of it."
"By collecting the people connected to it like rare butterflies pinned to a board," I said, finally meeting his gaze.
Vex smiled again. This smile was different, acknowledging, almost respectful. "You're not what they told us Ashveil would send."
"No," I said. "I'm not. And I'm not going to Greyveil. Tell Zoran the substitute bride sends her regards... and her decline."
Vex studied me for a long moment. Those pale grey eyes held considerably more intelligence than his easy manner suggested.
He wasn't just an envoy; he was a scout, measuring the fortifications of a new enemy.
"He won't stop," Vex said. It was quiet, sounding more like a genuine warning than a standard threat.
"Neither will I," I replied coldly.
He stood and left the library, leaving the book behind on the table. Whether it was out of anger, contempt, or simple forgetfulness, I didn't know. I sat with the silence after he was gone and let my hands unclench from where they had been gripping my own book hard enough to leave white marks in the leather cover.
Steady, I told myself. Stay steady.
I waited a few minutes before heading for the door, my heart still knocking against my ribs. I pulled my high collar tight, ensuring the mark on my neck was buried beneath the wool.
Caius was in the corridor outside.
I nearly walked straight into him. He was standing perfectly still, close to the wall, and I came through the library door too fast. I had to stop hard to avoid a collision. For one suspended second, we were close enough that I could see the curse markings on his neck pulsing with that slow, living rhythm.
The burning on my neck surged, a frantic, electric heat.
His eyes dropped to my collar, lingering there for a fraction of a second before snapping back up to my face.
"Vex," he said plainly. It was one word, a question without a question mark.
"He introduced himself," I replied, my voice steadier than I felt. "I declined his employer's invitation. It's handled."
His expression went still, his features turning to granite.
"You don't need to handle anything," he said. His voice was low, carrying a rough edge that hadn't been there before; a territorial growl disguised as a statement.
"I know," I said. "I did it anyway."
He looked at me, really looked at me. The curse markings on his hand stilled; that brief, impossible quiet I was learning to recognize.
It was the eye of the storm of whatever was consuming him, and for a moment, the air between us felt charged with something that wasn't just magic.
"Stay away from Vex," he commanded, the words sharp.
"I intend to," I said.
He nodded once, a stiff, jerky movement, and moved past me down the corridor. I watched him go; that slow, uneven walk that clearly cost him something with every step and felt the burning on my neck chase after him like a compass needle finding north.
He had been outside that door the whole time. He had listened to me refuse Zoran's envoy. He had heard me choose a cursed house over a "comfortable" cage.
And something about that had shifted the foundation of whatever stood between us. I just didn't know if the new ground was any safer than the old.