Nobody rushed toward the stairs after the auction stopped moving above them. The chamber still carried too many eyes in it, even though the gods were only text on broken screens and the dead Warden had become a split shell beneath their feet.
Nox closed the wallet display, then opened it again without spending a coin. Eight hundred Divine Coins remained inside, bright and useless until he understood the price of touching them.
Vasa had pushed herself upright beside the fallen slab, although the cold had left her fingers blue at the nails. Her ledger rested against her knee while she copied every line that had appeared during the auction.
"You have one test left before anyone calls the coins safe," Vasa said, checking the total against her written record.
"One?" Kendra asked, watching the screens above Nox rather than the wounded arm she kept flexing.
"Whether they buy an action, or whether they buy the right to wait for one," Vasa said.
