Kage’s POV

  The silence stretched between us as we stepped into my apartment. Zara hadn’t said much since we left the morgue, and I wasn’t about to push her. The weight of this morning was pressing down on her—I could see it in the tension in her shoulders, in the way she rubbed her temples as if trying to scrub the memory of the boy’s cold body from her mind.

  I set my keys down on the table and pulled out my communicator. Hall needed to be updated.

  “We made it back,” I said when he picked up. “The victim was young. Too young. But Zara was able to bring him back. He—”

  I glanced at her, watching as she sank onto the couch, staring at nothing. Her fingers were curled into her sleeves, gripping the fabric like it was the only thing keeping her together.

  “He said The Cleansing did it to send her a message,” I finished.

  Hall cursed under his breath. “Bastard’s escalating. He knows exactly what he’s doing.”

  “We think he’s getting his information from somewhere,” I said, running a hand through my hair. “This kill wasn’t random. He knew how to sever soul connections before, but after Zara’s lecture? He suddenly knew how to send a message using his victim’s last moments. He’s learning in real time.”

  Hall was silent for a moment. “You think he was in that lecture?”

  I glanced at Zara again. Her face was unreadable, but I could tell her mind was turning, piecing things together just as I was. “If not in the room, he has access to someone who was.”

  Hall exhaled sharply. “That means he’s closer than we thought.”

  “Yeah,” I muttered. “A lot closer.”

  I hung up and set my communicator down. Zara hadn’t moved. The only sign that she was listening was the way her fingers twitched slightly against her sleeve.

  “Zara,” I said carefully, stepping toward her. “We need to talk about the university.”

  She blinked, finally looking up at me. “What?”

  I sat across from her, keeping my voice level. “This killer—he’s methodical. He’s not just choosing magicals at random. He’s using knowledge that most people don’t have access to. He knew exactly how to sever the soul’s connection. Then, right after your lecture on those connections, he knew exactly how to use them to send you a message.”

  Her brows pulled together. “You think he’s connected to the school?”

  “I think it’s more than possible,” I said. “If he’s not a student, then he has access to one. Or faculty. Or administration. Someone who’s been following your work closely enough to adapt his methods.”

  Zara shook her head, rubbing her arms. “No. I would know if he was. I would recognize him. Those eyes… those cold, dead eyes—I wouldn’t forget them. I would have noticed if someone like that was at the school.”

  “Unless he’s not someone you see often,” I pointed out. “Or unless he’s hiding in plain sight.”

  Her lips pressed into a thin line. I could tell she didn’t want to believe it, didn’t want to think that the place she had built her life around could be harboring a monster. But I needed her to see this for what it was.

  “Zara,” I said gently, “if he’s using the school to find magicals, then he’s already too close. We need to start looking at the university’s records. We need to figure out who has access to student information. Because if we don’t stop him now, he’s just going to keep killing.”

  She swallowed, her fingers tightening into fists. “Then we start digging. Today.”

  Zara’s POV

  I sat at Kage’s kitchen table, my laptop open in front of me, its glow casting sharp shadows in the dimly lit room. Thousands of names stared back at me—students, faculty, staff, administrators—each one a potential lead, each one a possible suspect.

  My fingers hovered over the keyboard as a wave of exhaustion threatened to pull me under. I hadn’t slept. Not really. Not since the morgue, since seeing that boy’s body, since realizing that The Cleansing had killed him as a message to me. But I pushed the fatigue aside. There wasn’t time for sleep. Not when another magical could be next.

  Kage leaned against the counter, his arms crossed, watching me closely. “That’s a lot of names.”

  “Too many,” I muttered. “There’s no way he’s just picking at random. He has access to these records, Kage. He knows exactly who to go after.”

  He moved closer, pulling up a chair beside me. “Then we narrow it down. Faculty first. Who’s been at the school long enough to know about magicals but wouldn’t be in your direct circle? Someone who wouldn’t stand out to you?”

  I nodded, pulling up the faculty database. “That still leaves hundreds of names. I know most of my colleagues. If someone like him were working in my department, I’d recognize him.”

  “Then let’s try admin staff,” Kage suggested. “Someone with access to student records but not someone you’d interact with often. Registrar’s office, student records, security… anyone who could have access to files on magical students.”

  This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

  I hesitated, my fingers tapping lightly against the keyboard. “That could work. If he’s using school records to find magicals, it means he’s not just targeting anyone. He’s going after students or their family members.”

  Kage’s jaw tightened. “That means he’s more methodical than we thought. He’s not just a murderer—he’s hunting them with intent.”

  I swallowed hard, the thought making my stomach twist. “We start with the administration. We filter out anyone with direct access to magical student information and work from there.”

  Kage nodded, his dark eyes steady on mine. “And when we find him?”

  I exhaled slowly, my hands tightening into fists. “We stop him. For good.”

  Kage’s POV

  As I watched Zara scroll through the faculty list, the tension in her shoulders growing with each name, a memory surfaced—one I hadn’t thought about in years.

  I shifted in my chair, rubbing the back of my neck. “I worked a case once. Back when I was new to the force.”

  Zara looked up, her glowing green eyes flickering with curiosity. “Yeah?”

  I leaned back, arms crossed. “It was my first time investigating magical-related deaths. A string of disappearances in a lower district. Nothing as brutal as this, but similar in a way—methodical. Someone was picking off magicals, and no one was paying attention.”

  Zara’s gaze sharpened. “What happened?”

  I exhaled, staring at the faint reflection of city lights in the window. “I was partnered with a senior officer at the time. Non-magical. He saw magical deaths as ‘cleanup,’ like they were always bound to happen because magic was too unpredictable. He told me to let it go.”

  Zara’s fingers stilled on the laptop. “And did you?”

  I let out a bitter chuckle. “No. I kept digging. I tracked the victims’ movements, found a pattern. Every single one of them had gone to the same healer before they vanished. A guy named Oren Faulks. Ran a clinic, real kind face, said all the right things—but he was draining their magic. Said he was ‘purifying’ them, removing magic from their bodies so they could live ‘normal’ lives.”

  Zara’s face twisted in disgust. “Let me guess—his process killed them?”

  “Yeah,” I said quietly. “And he didn’t care. He thought he was doing them a favor.” I clenched my jaw, pushing down the old anger. “I went to my partner with everything I had—proof, witnesses, bodies that were starting to pile up. He shut it down. Said we couldn’t risk the ‘political fallout’ of arresting a healer who had helped hundreds of non-magicals.”

  Zara muttered something under her breath that I was sure wasn’t polite. “So what did you do?”

  I met her gaze. “I leaked the case files to the press.”

  She blinked, surprised.

  “It forced their hand. They had no choice but to investigate once the public knew. Oren was arrested, but it was too late for the people he’d already killed.” I let out a slow breath, staring at the names on the laptop screen. “I guess this case reminds me of that. Someone out there playing god with magical lives, thinking they’re justified in their actions. And once again, it’s up to us to stop them before more people die.”

  Zara studied me for a moment, then reached across the table, her fingers brushing against my hand. It was subtle, but grounding. “We’re not alone in this, Kage. This time, we fight it together.”

  Something in my chest loosened.

  I nodded, gripping her hand briefly before letting go. “Yeah. Together.”

  Zara’s POV

  After another hour of combing through files and narrowing our list, we were left with twelve names. Twelve people who had the access and potential motive to be The Cleansing. My stomach twisted at the sight of the list.

  “Twelve,” I whispered. “Twelve possibilities.”

  Kage reached for his communicator. “I’ll send this to Hall. He can start running background checks while we focus on the university.”

  I leaned back in my chair, rubbing my eyes as exhaustion finally caught up to me. “I can’t believe it’s come to this. Looking at a list of names and wondering if I’ve spoken to a killer.”

  Kage sat across from me, setting his communicator down. “We’re getting closer, Zara. We’ll find him.”

  I met his gaze, the intensity of his words sinking into me. He wasn’t just saying it to reassure me—he meant it. He would do whatever it took to stop this.

  A silence stretched between us, not uncomfortable but charged with something else. The weight of everything we had been through, the late nights, the shared danger—it had pulled us together in ways I hadn’t expected.

  “I don’t think I ever told you much about Naja,” I said quietly, glancing at Kage. “She would have loved arguing with you. She always thought she was the smartest person in the room. And, honestly? She usually was.”

  Kage smirked slightly, leaning back in his chair. “Sounds like someone else I know.”

  I rolled my eyes but smiled. “She was stubborn, but she cared more than anyone I’ve ever met. She was always helping people, even when it came at a cost to herself. That’s just who she was. When I met her, I didn’t think I needed anyone, and she just—forced her way into my life anyway. And I let her.”

  Kage nodded, his gaze softer now. “I can’t wait to meet her.”

  The words sent warmth through my chest. It was the way he said it—not as if it was a possibility, but a certainty. As if he believed Naja would wake up, that she would get to tease me again, to be the force of nature she always had been.

  “Yeah,” I murmured. “She’d like you too. But she’d probably warn me not to get too close.”

  Kage tilted his head slightly, curiosity flickering in his dark eyes. “And why’s that?”

  I hesitated, then shrugged. “Because she always thought I kept my heart too guarded. That I was scared to let people in.”

  Kage was quiet for a long moment before he spoke. “I know what that’s like. After my parents died, I stopped letting people in. It was easier that way.”

  I looked at him, surprised. He rarely talked about his past. “What happened?”

  His fingers drummed lightly against the table before he exhaled. “My mom got sick first. It was slow, drawn out. My dad took care of her until the end, but after she was gone, he… he just wasn’t the same. A few months later, he followed her.”

  I swallowed the lump in my throat. “I’m sorry, Kage.”

  He nodded once, his expression unreadable. “That’s when I left my hometown. There was nothing left for me there. I came to the city to learn more about magic, to understand what I was, but also because I needed to see more than just that small place where everyone feared me.”

  His words hung in the air, settling between us in a way that made my chest tighten. “And have you?” I asked. “Seen more? Found what you were looking for?”

  He exhaled a soft chuckle, but there was no humor in it. “I don’t know. But I do know that meeting you has changed things.”

  Something in my stomach fluttered at his words. A warmth I wasn’t ready to acknowledge. “Kage…”

  His gaze met mine, steady, unreadable, but something deep within them made my breath catch. The space between us felt smaller than before, like an unspoken understanding had been reached. But then, just as quickly as it had come, he leaned back, breaking whatever moment had just formed.

  “You should get some rest,” he murmured. “We have a long day tomorrow.”

  I nodded, trying to push away the lingering feeling that something between us had shifted in a way neither of us could ignore.

  Disappointment flickered in my chest, but I pushed it down. He was right. We weren’t just two people caught in something bigger than us. We were partners, bound by the mission we had started.

  Still, as I watched him from across the dimly lit room, I couldn’t shake the feeling that something between us had shifted. And neither of us knew what to do about it.