Chapter 329: The Guest II
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But this? No proper answer. No release. No permission to report back.
And tonight —tonight— was the time the heir had originally intended for the meeting.
One hour.
Less, perhaps, by now.
Kess stood at the window of his assigned room and looked out toward the outer grounds of Dawn House, where the lamps had begun to brighten as true night took shape. The guest house sat outside the main residence, close enough to be counted as part of the estate, far enough to make it clear that visitors stayed in controlled layers. Clever. Everything about this household was clever in ways he increasingly disliked.
He could not even decide what frightened him more.
That Mihos would believe he had failed.
Or that Mihos would believe he had failed weakly.
Failure alone could be explained.
Weakness of execution was harder.
If he missed the arranged time without a report, Mihos would not assume accident first. Mihos never assumed an accident first. He would assume incompetence, cowardice, or disobedience. Each one had its own punishment. None were gentle. And while Mihos was not the type to butcher his useful servants without calculation, he was exactly the type to make an example of one if pride had been inconvenienced at the wrong angle.
Kess could almost hear the heir’s voice already.
You could not even leave a guest wing?
That would be the tone.
Quiet.
Worse than shouting.
He looked toward the corridor door again.
Still closed.
Still unlocked from his side in theory.
He had tested that too.
It opened.
Of course it opened.
This house had no need to hide what it was doing. It simply arranged reality such that leaving became a useless choice.
He crossed the room and opened the door once more.
The corridor outside sat under warm light and silence.
No maid visible.
Interesting.
Kess stood very still.
Then took one step out. Then two. Then three. Nothing happened.
Hope, foolish and immediate, rose before discipline could crush it. Had the watch pattern changed? Had the house forgotten him because of some larger event? Had the answer finally come in a way that did not involve another tray and another smiling trap?
He reached the turn in the corridor.
And there she was.
Not one of the younger maids.
Not one of the quieter servants.
Elena.
She stood near the outer stair landing with one hand resting lightly on the carved rail, her posture so composed it seemed almost unfair. She wore no visible weapon. No armor. Nothing dramatic at all. Dark clothing. Clean lines. Nothing more.
Kess felt the same thing he felt every time he saw her.
Danger.
Not because of visible power.
Because of absence.
He felt no chaos energy from her.
That was the most unsettling part.
None.
Or none he could read.
And Kess was not some lower fool fresh from a farm track. He had served around upper structures. Around dangerous people. Around old blood, noble lines, hidden retainers, assassins dressed as butlers, and maids who could peel skin from a throat before the tea cooled. He knew what controlled power felt like.
Elena felt like nothing.
Which was impossible.
His instincts told him she was dangerous enough that stepping past her would become a lifelong regret lasting perhaps another two minutes.
His senses told him she was calm and empty.
The contradiction made her worse than men who simply radiated rank.
She looked at him.
"Where are you going? Did you need something?"
Same house softness. But much colder.
Kess almost laughed at the precision of his own suffering.
"No, I am not going anywhere. I was only stretching my legs."
Elena’s face did not change. "You may do that in the room."
He stood there for one beat too long.
Elena added, "Or in the inner courtyard when permitted."
There it was.
A generosity shaped exactly like a wall.
Kess bowed his head slightly and returned to the room.
He hated that she made obedience feel like his own polite idea.
Back inside, he paced for a while.
Then stopped pacing because it made him feel weaker.
Then sat.
Then stood again.
The servants brought food not long after. He barely touched it. One maid noticed and said, with maddening calm, "You should eat while you can."
That did not comfort him in the slightest.
He asked her, "Has the young master answered."
She bowed. "You will be informed."
He nearly snapped then. Nearly.
But years of service held the line.
"Do you understand that I was sent under the heir’s order?"
The maid met his gaze with serene emptiness and said, "Yes."
"And that I must report back."
"Yes."
"Then why am I still here?"
The maid’s expression did not move. "Because you are still here."
Then she collected the tray and left, and Kess sat down very slowly because if he remained standing he might actually try something stupid enough to justify being killed by both sides at once.
The hour deepened.
The light outside the window went from evening to true night.
His mind returned again and again to Mihos Dawn waiting somewhere in that luxury camp, perhaps already impatient, perhaps not yet outwardly so, which was worse. Stephen might cover for a servant once. Maybe twice. Not beyond the point where the heir’s pride became the center of the matter.
Kess had failed to return.
That truth had already hardened.
The only question left was whether he would survive the explanation.
He thought again of trying to force the exit. Not because it would work. Because doing nothing while time closed in felt unbearable. Yet every calculation ended the same way. Even if he slipped one maid, another would see him. Even if he made the outer yard, the gate line would already know. Even if by some absurd blessing he reached the road, going back to Mihos carrying visible evidence that Dawn House had quietly caged him would not improve the heir’s mood.
No.
The only path left was through the answer itself.
If it ever came.
He was seated near the edge of the bed when footsteps finally sounded outside.
Not the soft glide of a maid.
Not the light, rapid pace of tray service.
They were measured. Two people were coming. He could tell by the sound.
Kess rose immediately.
The door opened.
Elena entered first.
And behind her came Sekhmet Dawn.
Kess had seen him properly only once before in passing under daytime courtesy, when messages still felt like games between houses rather than knives wrapped in etiquette. Now, with the missing day behind them and the meeting hour nearly upon them, Sekhmet looked different.
Not more richly dressed.
More present.
His face held the calm of someone who had spent the day doing things too important to explain to a trapped envoy and had finally arrived only because now it suited him to arrive. That should have been insulting.
Instead, Kess found himself absurdly relieved at the sight of him.
Because at last there would be an answer.
Whether it killed him or not.
Elena stepped aside only enough to allow the room to acknowledge who its center now was.
Kess bowed immediately.
Not too deeply.
Enough.
"Young Master."
Sekhmet looked at him for one silent second.
No apology.
No explanation.
In some twisted way that was better. Apologies from men like this usually meant worse things were coming.
Then Sekhmet asked, with complete calm, "Where is your master?"
Kess blinked once.
The question struck too directly to be expected.
Sekhmet continued before he could recover fully.
"Where were we supposed to meet?"