Cornelia's gaze shifted away from the fallen body and landed squarely on Vance.
"Where is the military token?" she asked, her tone steady, as if the duel had not just shaken the ground beneath their feet.
Vance flinched. He opened his mouth to answer, then stopped. His eyes darted to the side, widening.
"…It was on Sevette," he said slowly. "But—"
He pointed.
The spot where Sevette's body had fallen was empty.
Cornelia's brow furrowed. The air changed, a subtle tightening that made the hairs on her arms rise. She felt it too, that faint but unmistakable presence, like blood humming beneath the earth.
"There," Vance muttered.
They turned.
Sevette lay several meters away, half submerged in a shallow depression of cracked stone and darkened blood. Her body was twisted at an unnatural angle, neck bent sharply to the side, unmistakably broken.
Cornelia's chest tightened. She was certain she had ended it cleanly.
Then it happened.
A sound, faint at first.
Crack.
