Chapter 169: Facts Prove Facts

Marek stared at the scene for several seconds before remembering that he was holding the reason the entire fight had happened. “Eren.”

Eren came closer, keeping his attention on Blanche and the Errant while Marek handed him the access tag.

“Keep this,” Marek said.

Eren took it carefully. “You’re giving it to me?”

“You’re the one who understands what this means for the records better than the rest of us,” Marek replied.

Eren did not reply and just slipped the tag somewhere secure inside his clothing.

Silas came over and checked the damaged barrier, then the position where the tag had fallen earlier. “We need to remember where everything was before people start walking through here.”

Rafe was already working through his communication device. “I’m contacting the CMS.”

“Tell them an Errant attacked us after demanding the records,” Eren said. “And mention the access tag.”

Rafe nodded.

Blanche heard them. Her eyes moved toward Eren for a moment, then to Marek. It was the first time she had really looked at him.

Marek had the uncomfortable feeling that she was evaluating something, though her expression gave him very little to work with.

The Errant struggled beneath her foot again.

She pressed down harder.

Rhovan walked closer and stopped a few steps from Blanche, his eyes dropping briefly toward the Errant pinned beneath her foot. “Try not to break him. We still need him capable of answering questions.”

“I haven’t broken him,” Blanche replied without taking her attention off the man.

Rhovan studied the way the Errant was pressed against the pavement. “You sounded a little defensive there.”

Blanche finally turned her head toward him. “I wasn’t.”

Marek glanced toward Silas and caught him looking away with his mouth pressed into a thin line, clearly trying not to react to whatever history was playing out in front of them. Seeing Silas make that much effort only made Marek more curious about what exactly Rhovan had done to this woman in the past.

Rafe finished sending their location and put the device away. “The CMS acknowledged it. They’re sending officers.”

Eren checked the tag once more before folding his schedules. “For the record, this still doesn’t prove the company stole anything.”

Marek looked at him. “He followed us through half the district, demanded your notes, attacked us, and carried access tied to the same registration reference.”

“Yes.”

“And you’re still saying that?”

“Because those facts prove those facts,” Eren replied. “They don’t prove every payment was fraudulent.”

Marek considered arguing.

Then, he remembered why Eren had come with them in the first place.

Blanche looked toward them during the exchange, although her attention returned to Rhovan when he came within several steps of her. For the first time since she appeared, the irritation on her face shifted into something more focused.

Blanche let her attention travel over Rhovan from head to foot, taking in whatever differences she could see between the man standing in front of her now and the one she remembered.

Rhovan smiled when he noticed, though there was something restrained about it that Marek was not used to seeing from him.

Blanche narrowed her eyes. “You got weaker.”

Rafe glanced toward Marek as if he expected an explanation, and Silas followed a moment later. Marek ignored both of them. He had no idea what kind of answer they thought he could give when he had only just learned this woman existed.

Rhovan placed one hand against his chest with exaggerated dignity. “Wonderful to see you too, Blanche.”

“You were stronger before.”

“Yes, I understood you the first time.”

Blanche continued studying him for another moment before her attention shifted toward Marek. “Who is that?”

Marek was about to answer for himself when Rhovan spoke first. “Newton.”

The name clearly meant very little to her. Her eyes moved over Marek instead, eventually settling on the Astral Mark visible near his shoulder. Something changed in her expression when she recognized the Sign.

“Ophiuchus…”

Marek wasn’t sure he liked the interest behind the word. There was no disgust in her voice like he had heard from several people since arriving in Courtspire City. If anything, she sounded as though she had found something where she hadn’t expected it.

“Yes,” he answered.

Blanche returned her attention to Rhovan. “Why are you traveling with an Ophiuchus?”

Rhovan seemed much more comfortable with that question than he had been under her earlier inspection. His usual smile returned. “The explanation would take a while.”

“I didn’t ask how long it would take.”

“No, you didn’t.”

Her expression tightened, and Marek had to wonder how Rhovan had managed to irritate her more with two words than the Errant had after trying to attack her several times.

He had watched Rhovan annoy enough people on Earth to know the man possessed a genuine talent for it. This interaction felt different, though. Blanche wasn’t treating him like some stranger she had just met and already disliked. Whatever history existed between them had clearly been around much longer.

Voices carried into the passage from the wider road before Blanche could question him further. Rafe checked the response notice on his communication device and confirmed that the CMS officers were close.

Blanche heard them too and finally removed her foot from the Errant’s back.

Marek’s attention went straight to the man. “He’s not unconscious.”

Blanche merely nodded.

The Errant shifted one arm beneath himself as though he was considering getting up. Blanche lowered her eyes toward him, and he stopped. After everything he had done to recover the tag, Marek found the sudden change in judgment almost impressive.

Blanche faced Rhovan again. “We aren’t finished.”

Rhovan merely nodded.

She gave Marek another brief look before walking toward the opposite end of the passage, leaving the damaged construction barrier and the subdued Errant behind as though neither required another thought from her.

Marek waited until she had put some distance between them before turning to Rhovan. “Who was that woman?”

Rhovan continued watching Blanche leave. “Someone I was hoping not to meet yet.”

Marek glanced at the Errant on the pavement and then toward the section of barrier the man had nearly gone through after Blanche’s first strike. When he looked back at Rhovan, his expression had already made it clear that the answer wasn’t going to satisfy him.

“You know that’s not an answer, Rhovan,” Marek replied.

The first CMS officers entered the passage before Marek could press him further, and Rhovan appeared far too pleased with the timing of their arrival.

Marek decided he could enjoy the interruption while it lasted.

He was going to ask again. ‘Later.’