Arielle's POV
The Architect found Seraphina before she found it.
That was how Soren's intelligence read it, piecing together movement reports and the specific pattern of dark magic disturbances that Dessa had developed a system for tracking after the Shadow Queen's dissolution. Something had come to Seraphina.
Not to her location — wherever that was, which we still hadn't confirmed. To her specifically. Through whatever signal she had been broadcasting in the weeks since her escape, the desperation and the specific desire and the dark magic literacy she had developed.
The Architect had recognized a good builder when it sensed one.
What it gave her was worse than what the Shadow Queen had offered.
The Shadow Queen had wanted possession. The Architect built partnerships.
What Seraphin
