Sera's Pov
We heard him before we saw him, voices in the entry hall, Gideon's low and steady beneath the higher, sharper tones of whoever had met him at the door. Riven was already moving by the time I caught up, fast and purposeful, and I followed close behind, the old volume still open on his desk, forgotten now, whatever history it held waiting for a moment that clearly wasn't going to be this one.
Gideon stood in the entry hall exactly as he had in the neutral room the first time, slightly stooped with exhaustion, but his eyes were clearer than I remembered, fixed and certain in a way they hadn't been before, like a man who'd finally stopped arguing with himself about what he was going to do.
"I'm not here for passage," he said, the moment Riven reached him. "I'm requesting asylum."
