The knock came before seven, three hard raps that rattled the wooden frame.
Sera was already awake. She hadn't really stopped being awake since the high-frequency hum of the Council seal had broken the quiet the night before. She crossed the cold archive floor barefoot and opened the door to find Dante standing on the porch. He was still wearing the clothes from last night, his collar slightly wrinkled, looking like a man who had skipped a night of sleep entirely to trade it for furious momentum. He held a thick manila folder under one arm, his jaw set with an expression that had clearly been rehearsed on the drive back over.
"I said I wasn't finished last night," he said, his voice carrying the low, gravelly vibration of a tired wolf, "so I'm here to not be finished."
"It's seven in th
