The office door opened.
Varyan was already movingābehind the curtain, pressed against the wall, dagger in hand.
Headmaster Corvin entered. Old. Bald. Tired-looking. He didn't turn on the lights. He walked to his desk, sat down, and sighed.
"You can come out, boy."
Varyan didn't move.
"I know you're there. I could smell the servant's passage on you. That old stone dustāit clings."
Still Varyan didn't move.
Headmaster Corvin lit a single candle. The flame illuminated his faceāwrinkled, sad, but not unkind.
"Varyan of House Roverc," he said. "I know your mother's journal. I know about the fragment. I know why you're here."
Varyan stepped out from behind the curtain. His dagger was hidden, but his hand was ready.
"Then you know I'm not here to steal."
"I know you're here to survive." The headmaster gestured to the chair across from his desk. "Sit. We have much to discuss."
Varyan didn't sit. "How do you know about the fragment?"
"Because I was a fragment-bearer once. Order Fragment 03. Long ago, before I grew old and the fragment passed to another." Corvin's eyes were distant. "I know about the Harvesters too. I know one walks these halls. I haven't been able to stop them. Perhaps you can."
"Why would you help me?"
"Because someone helped me, once. And because the alternative is letting the Harvesters win." He slid a key across the desk. "This opens the old vault beneath the Roverc estate. Your great-grandmother sealed something there before she died. Something that might help you."
Varyan recognized the key. It was identical to the rusted key he had found in the restricted section.
Two keys. One vault.
"What's inside?" he asked.
"I don't know. But your great-grandmother believed it was the only thing that could save your bloodline." Corvin leaned back. "Now go. Before someone sees you here. And Varyan?"
"Yes?"
"Trust no one. Not even me."
Varyan took the key and left.
Behind him, the headmaster's candle flickered and went out.