Alina turned back toward the wide, domed chamber, trying to ease the heat crawling up her throat. She wasn’t about to let him see how much one phrase unsettled her. The observatory felt larger now, as though the silence had stretched in response to their nearness.
She moved toward the nearest table, brushing her fingers along the rim of a brass sphere. Its armillary rings were half-collapsed, bent from years of neglect, but when she touched it, a faint shiver of shadow stirred around the grooves. She pulled her hand back quickly.
“Do you haunt every forgotten corner of this place?” she asked, keeping her voice steadier than she felt.
Riven had not moved far from where he leaned, one shoulder against a cracked pillar. “Only the ones worth haunting. You found this room for yourself. I’ve
