Seris had expected a summons.
She just hadn't expected it to feel so… polite.
The carriage that arrived bore no banners. No official seal. Just a discreet crest worked into the brass—Aureline's, recognizable to anyone who knew how power preferred to introduce itself when it wanted to look reasonable.
The driver spoke softly.
"Her Grace requests your presence. At your convenience."
At your convenience.
As if Seris weren't a former investigator stripped of authority.
As if the city hadn't nearly torn itself apart.
As if this weren't an offer with a spine of steel beneath velvet words.
She went anyway.
---
Aureline received her in a private solar, high above the city. Windows open. Curtains drawn back. The city spread below them like a chessboard reset after a violent match.
The Duchess stood by the window, hands folded, posture impeccable.
"Seris," Aureline said, turning with a small, measured smile. "Thank you for coming."
Seris inclined her head. "Your Grace."
"Sit," Aureline gestured. "Please. No formalities today. We're past that, I think."
Seris sat.
The silence stretched—not awkward, but deliberate. Aureline was the kind of woman who understood that pauses could be more revealing than words.
"You were right," the Duchess said at last. "About Malvane. About the corruption. About how deep it went."
Seris' jaw tightened. "That didn't stop my superiors from trying to silence me."
"No," Aureline agreed calmly. "It didn't."
She turned back to the window. "And now many of those same superiors are scrambling to distance themselves from a man they once praised. Funny how clarity arrives after catastrophe."
Seris didn't respond.
Aureline finally faced her fully.
"I can reinstate you," she said simply. "Your rank. Your authority. With protections this time. Oversight that answers to me, not the Church. Not compromised councils."
She took a step closer. "You would have resources. Jurisdiction. Freedom to investigate corruption wherever it hides."
The offer landed heavy.
This wasn't charity.
This was power, extended carefully.
Seris folded her hands together, giving herself a moment.
"And the cost?" she asked.
Aureline smiled faintly. "You've learned to ask better questions."
She didn't deny it.
"Alignment," the Duchess said. "Not obedience. I don't need loyal dogs. I need competent people who know when to bite and when to wait."
Seris looked away, toward the city. Toward streets she had walked as an investigator. Toward people she once believed she was protecting from within the system.
"I believed in that once," she said quietly. "In fixing things from the inside."
"And now?"
Seris hesitated.
Images flickered through her mind:
A corrupted cathedral.
Faith weaponized.
A man turned into something unholy and abandoned by everything he worshipped.
A demon enforcing consequences with frightening precision.
A wish granter who looked like a fallen angel but still tried to be kind.
"I'm not sure the inside is where change starts anymore," she said.
Aureline studied her.
"You've been traveling with… unusual individuals," the Duchess said carefully.
Seris met her gaze. "Yes."
"Dangerous ones."
"Yes."
"And yet," Aureline continued, "you're alive. The city stands. The crisis ended."
Seris didn't smile. "At a cost."
Aureline nodded. "Everything costs something. The difference is whether you choose the price… or let someone else choose it for you."
Silence again.
Seris felt the weight of the offer pressing against everything she'd become since losing her badge. Authority meant protection. Influence. The ability to stop things before they reached cathedrals and corpses.
But it also meant distance.
From Aiden's quiet honesty.
From Liora's searching questions.
From truths the system preferred to bury.
"If I return," Seris said slowly, "I won't be quiet."
Aureline's smile sharpened—not unkindly.
"I would be disappointed if you were."
"And I won't pretend the Church can be trusted just because it apologizes loudly enough."
"Good," Aureline replied. "Neither will I."
Seris exhaled.
Then shook her head.
"Not yet," she said.
The Duchess blinked, just once.
"Explain."
Seris met her eyes. "I need to understand the world better before I decide where I stand in it. I've seen things these past days that don't fit into reports or statutes."
She stood. "If I come back now, I'll start lying to myself again. I won't do that."
Aureline regarded her for a long moment.
Then—unexpectedly—she laughed softly.
"Very well," the Duchess said. "I admire conviction, even when it's inconvenient."
She reached into her sleeve and produced a sealed document, placing it on the table.
"An open offer," Aureline said. "No expiration. When you decide you want your position back… it's yours."
Seris looked at the seal.
Then nodded once. "Thank you."
Aureline inclined her head. "Be careful, Seris. The people you walk with now… they change the world in ways institutions cannot."
Seris paused at the door. "That's why I'm with them."
She left.
---
Later, Seris found Aiden on the same rooftop as before.
He looked up when she approached. "Everything okay?"
She sat beside him.
"Yeah," she said after a moment. "Just… offered my old life back."
He blinked. "And?"
She smiled faintly. "Turns out I'm not done with this one yet."
Aiden relaxed, something warm and unspoken passing between them.
Below, the city continued to recover.
Above, choices were being made.
And Seris—no longer certain who she was becoming—felt strangely at peace with not knowing yet.
---