Chapter 41: I Accidentally Alerted Every Demon House in the City

Rhea Alastor appeared in the doorway.

Simple black dress.

Hair down.

No wineglass this time.

And an expression Adrián had never seen on her before.

It wasn’t anger.

It wasn’t happiness.

It wasn’t her usual aristocratic calm.

It was something else.

Something Adrián would eventually learn to recognize as:

Rhea Alastor focusing on a problem.

Behind her came Nikita Volkov—the tall, pale woman from the introductory meeting, the one who carried the Hanged Man Talent—with a tablet in one hand and an equally focused expression.

"Silvano," Rhea said without greeting anyone. "What the hell did I just feel?"

"Mistress. A magical pulse from the basement. Yes. It was the boy."

Rhea stared at him.

"What do you mean, it was the boy?"

"Amplification of a Moon Fragment, Mistress. Four hundred simultaneous manifestations. Duration: twenty-eight seconds."

Rhea turned her head.

Looked at Adrián sitting on the floor.

Adrián weakly raised one hand.

"Uh. Hi."

Rhea didn’t answer.

She walked three steps toward him.

Crouched in front of him with the same calm she had shown when kneeling beside him in the pool of blood on Mercier Street nine days ago.

Then she placed a hand against his cheek.

Turned his face slightly to the left.

Then to the right.

Checked his eyes.

His mouth.

Then moved her fingers through the air above his head, directly through the place where the Mask floated whenever it was active.

Adrián felt it.

Very faintly.

The same vibration of recognition he had felt on his first day.

"Vega."

"Yeah, Rhea?"

"Do you have any idea what you just did?"

"...Not completely, no."

"Good."

Rhea’s expression remained tight.

"Because neither do I."

Adrián blinked.

"But I felt that pulse from the thirty-seventh floor."

A pause.

"During a meeting."

Another.

"In the middle of negotiations with House Malachai."

Her golden eyes narrowed.

"And I wasn’t the only one who felt it."

Adrián went still.

"...Other Houses felt it?"

"Other Houses felt it."

"..."

"Nikita."

"Mistress?" Nikita said, looking down at her tablet.

"Report."

"Three Houses within the metropolitan area have already sent informal inquiries, Mistress."

She scrolled.

"House Malachai asked what just happened inside our building."

Another swipe.

"House Vex sent sarcastic congratulations."

Another.

"House Ferrant sent a thinly veiled threat."

She looked up.

"And those are only the ones who bothered to ask."

Adrián said nothing.

"The ones who didn’t are already building theories."

Nikita checked the tablet again.

"Mistress, within fifteen minutes, everyone in the city’s demonic world will know something unusual happened in House Alastor’s basement."

Her voice remained clinical.

"Within an hour, they’ll know what happened."

A pause.

"Within six, they’ll know it was caused by a new reincarnate."

Rhea dragged a hand down her face.

"Fuck," she muttered.

Adrián had never heard her swear before.

He registered that detail with the same care he had been giving everything else for the past half hour.

"Vega."

"Yeah, Rhea?"

"Get up."

"...Okay."

He stood.

It took effort.

His legs were still shaking.

Rhea grabbed his arm to steady him.

Not gently.

Efficiently.

The firm grip of someone who had spent centuries handling difficult situations.

"Vega. Listen to me carefully."

Adrián looked at her.

"Tomorrow’s mission to the pharmaceutical distributor is canceled."

"...What?"

"Canceled. Rescheduled."

Her tone left no room for argument.

"You cannot leave this building this week."

Adrián stared at her.

"Or next week."

"Rhea—"

"Probably not the week after that either."

"..."

"Every House in this city is on alert now."

She tightened her grip slightly.

"The Fallen will send scouts."

"The angels probably will too."

"House Alastor just became the center of attention for all three factions at the same time because of what you did."

"...But—"

"No."

Rhea cut him off.

"No but."

"You’re staying inside."

"Silvano and Lira will intensify your training."

"Nikita will handle communications with the other Houses."

"Kael is cutting his assignment short and returning tomorrow."

Her eyes shifted briefly toward Ishtar.

"And Ishtar stays attached to you twenty-four hours a day."

From the wall, Ishtar raised one hand.

"Rhea, don’t make me sleep with him again. Adrián isn’t responsible for my social flexibility, but I—"

"Ishtar."

Rhea didn’t even turn around.

"Shut up."

Ishtar closed her mouth.

"Yes, you’re sleeping in his room."

"..."

"In a chair."

Rhea finally looked at her.

"All week."

"You’ll rotate with me and Silvano."

Ishtar’s expression died.

"..."

"It is not optional."

"...Fine."

Rhea turned back toward Adrián.

"Vega."

"Yeah?"

"Do you understand what I’m telling you?"

Adrián breathed.

Dragged a hand down his face.

"That I just screwed up the House’s entire operation."

"No."

Rhea answered instantly.

"You accelerated it."

Adrián looked at her.

"There’s a difference."

She released a slow breath.

"We were always going to reach this point eventually."

"In a few months."

"When you were trained."

"When we had a strategy."

"When our political positioning was prepared."

Her expression hardened.

"Instead, we got here now."

She pointed toward the floor.

"On your second day."

"With nothing prepared."

A pause.

"That is what I’m telling you."

Adrián stayed silent.

"And now we play defense until you’re capable of playing offense."

"Rhea."

"Yes, Vega?"

"...Sorry."

Rhea looked at him.

Held his gaze for a long second.

And then, to Adrián’s surprise, she smiled.

Barely.

A small warmth in it.

Almost pride.

"Vega."

"Yeah?"

"Don’t apologize for being what you are."

Her fingers were still wrapped around his arm.

"It’s a waste of energy."

Then her expression shifted again.

"Besides..."

She looked directly into his eyes.

"What you just did means something else."

"Something very important."

Adrián went still.

"What?"

"Marina Ríos."

A beat.

"The other four."

Another.

"Your sister."

Rhea’s voice became quieter.

"They’re probably alive."

Adrián stopped breathing.

"..."

"Yes, Vega."

She continued before he could speak.

"If the Fallen can detect potential like yours—and they clearly can, considering they detected you weeks ago—then they hunted those women for their potential."

"Not for the end result."

Her eyes sharpened.

"And living potential is more valuable than dead potential."

"For experiments."

"For research."

"For whatever the hell they’re doing."

Adrián remained completely still.

"..."

"Yes."

Rhea’s expression softened.

"We’re going to find them."

Adrián swallowed.

"And now, after what you just did, we have a lot more urgency."

"Because every House that learns about you is going to want to use you for its own agenda."

Her tone turned cold.

"And I will not allow another House to interfere with your search before I do."

"..."

Rhea looked at him.

"Do you trust me?"

Silence.

Adrián met her eyes.

The gold in them wasn’t playful.

Wasn’t seductive.

Wasn’t calculating.

She was genuinely asking.

"Yes."

Rhea nodded once.

"Good."

She let go of him.

Turned around.

Started walking toward the door.

Before leaving, she stopped.

"Silvano."

"Yes, Mistress?"

"Full report in my office in one hour."

She glanced toward Lira.

"With Lira."

Then Nikita.

"Nikita."

Then Ishtar.

"Ishtar."

Her voice sharpened.

"We’re rebuilding the entire plan."

"Yes, Mistress."

"Vega."

"Yeah?"

"Rest."

Then she left.

Nikita followed her, still typing on the tablet.

That left Adrián, Silvano, Lira, and Ishtar in the training room.

Adrián sat back down on the floor.

Ran both hands through his hair.

"..."

"Brother-in-law."

"What, Ishtar?"

"Before you say anything, I want you to know that what you did today is going into House Alastor’s historical records."

Adrián stared at her.

"..."

"Yeah."

Ishtar nodded solemnly.

"And I also want you to know you’re probably going to regret doing it."

"..."

"And also, brother-in-law."

"What?"

"Welcome to the real demonic world."

Her expression became unusually serious.

"The first nine days were kindergarten."

A pause.

"The rest starts now."

Adrián looked up.

A faint violet stain was still visible on the floor at the exact spot where the last Moon illusion had fallen.

It was slowly fading.

Adrián stared at it.

And at that exact moment—

his phone vibrated in the back pocket of his sweatpants.

He pulled it out.

One message.

Yuki Amasawa.

«Adri. Sorry I didn’t answer sooner. I need to talk to you. Tomorrow. At the bench. Noon. It’s important.»

Adrián stared at the message.

Ishtar leaned over his shoulder.

Read it.

Then sighed.

"Brother-in-law."

"I know."

"You can’t go."

"I know."

"Rhea literally just forbade you from leaving the building."

"I know, Ishtar."

"Then..."

Adrián breathed.

Looked at the phone.

Looked at the door Rhea had just walked through.

Then at Silvano and Lira, who were speaking quietly in one corner.

And without taking his eyes off Yuki’s message, he said very calmly, almost under his breath:

"I’m going."

Ishtar went completely still beside him.

"Brother-in-law."

"I’m going, Ishtar."

"Rhea is going to kill you."

"Let her."

"..."

Ishtar stared at him.

"...Okay."

Adrián got up from the floor.

And outside the Alastor building, thirty floors below, on a street in the university district—

a figure in a long black coat had been watching the building all morning from the rooftop across the street.

Yellow eyes.

Still posture.

Waiting.

The figure suddenly turned her head toward the north with the exact expression of someone who had just sensed something important from very far away.

Her lips parted.

Her voice trembled.

"...That pulse."

Sariel Corvax stared at the Alastor building.

"That pulse was you, Adrián."

She closed her eyes.

And for the first time in a very long time—

she began to cry.