Page 67 of The Thief's Mark

Sasha glared at Cal a moment longer, then sighed. Something like regret flickered across his face, replaced an instant later by resignation. “Yes, sir.”

Reholstering his baton, he stepped aside with obvious reluctance. “Looks like you get your wish,” he told Cal. “Go on in.”

Bobbing his head in thanks, Cal kept a careful eye on Sasha as he stepped past him toward the door. But Sasha made no move to stop him. His shoulders sagged as if with defeat as Cal entered the office.

The room was large, with a high ceiling and surprisingly dark wood for Sanjarka. Color was sparse, the High Commander favoring form over function. Bookshelves and display cases lined the walls.

A desk dominated the far end of the room in front of a wide curved window overlooking the city. The High Commander satbehind it. He wore an irritated frown, pouring over a stack of papers. The look he leveled at Cal was barely a step above a glare.

“If it was anyone else, Inspector Denton, I’d have sent them away,” the High Commander said. “But I figure you’ve earned a little leeway, even on a night like tonight. What is this all about? Has there been a break on the Blackjack case?”

Thinking quickly, Cal let his gaze stray over the room, searching for any sign of the void orb. Of course, he didn’t find it sitting out in plain view—that would have been way too easy.

“Well?” the High Commander snapped, his limited patience fraying. “Speak!”

Cal cleared his throat, turning back to the High Commander and bowing his head. “Sorry, sir. I was simply gathering my thoughts. Therehasbeen a break…of a sort. I traced a known associate of Blackjack’s right here to this very office, on this very night.”

That certainly got the High Commander’s attention. His gaze shot up, locking on Cal. “That’s absurd! No one has been in here tonight except for me and my assistant.”

“With all due respect, sir, you must be mistaken.”

“I think I know who has and hasn’t been in my office, Inspector,” High Commander Pern growled. “Now, unless you have something more than rampant speculation and wild theories, you can save it for your next report.”

This was going about as well as Cal had expected. The High Commander would hardly admit to being involved in some sort of treasonous plot. If Cal wanted to get anywhere, he was going to have to try something a bit more…direct.

“Apologies, sir, but I’m quite certain. I believe they left something here. I insist on checking for myself.”

Cal had no idea what sort of investigative authority Griff might have in this situation—likely none since this was his Void-cursed boss. Still, he feigned confidence as he moved to the nearestshelf and began searching it for any signs of the void orb, or any hidden compartments where it might be stashed. A confession was secondary—retrieving the dangerous relic remained the top priority.

“What are you doing? Stop that!”

Cal ignored the High Commander’s protests. Not finding anything noteworthy on the first shelf, he moved onto the next. He tried to be as careful as he could, but in his haste, he knocked a few books and knickknacks to the floor. He tensed when he heard the creak of the High Commander’s chair, followed by heavy footfalls.

“This is outrageous behavior, Inspector! Leave my office this instant, or by the Goddess, I’ll have you tossed in a cell!”

Cal muffled a wince. Griff was going to have a lot of explaining to do when this was all over. Though, he supposed that implicating your boss in a conspiracy was already guaranteed to involve plenty of paperwork.

He braced himself for the High Commander to attack, but instead, the High Commander shouted, “Lieutenant Thrank! Would you please remove Inspector Denton from my office and escort him to a holding cell?”

Cal listened with half an ear for the door as he darted across the room to another shelf. After how he’d left things with Sasha, he expected the protector to be only too eager to come in here and take another crack at him. But to his surprise, the lieutenant didn’t answer.

High Commander Pern appeared equally caught off-guard. From the corner of his eye, Cal saw him approach the door with a frown. “Lieutenant?” He tried the door, his frown deepening when the knob didn’t move.“Lieutenant!Why is this door locked? What the Void is the meaning of this?”

Cal shifted over to the next shelf on this side. He’d barely begun rummaging when he noticed an oddly placed woodenpillar set into the back of the shelf.There!A quick rap of his knuckles revealed it to be hollow.

His fingers skittered over the shelf, searching for hidden buttons until he finally heard a satisfyingclick. The secret compartment slid open, and there, nestled inside, was the pulsing orb with its sickening hue of violet voidflame.

“Aha!”Cal triumphantly held up the void orb, muffling a wince at the slick, oily sensation it left on his palm. “Then, how do you explainthis, High Commander?”

He wasn’t exactly sure what kind of reaction he’d expected. Perhaps for the High Commander to attack him in a rage or else attempt to flee the office to escape the evidence against him.

Instead, High Commander Pern appeared genuinely astonished. His wide eyes locked on the void orb as if trapped in its swirling depths. “I have no idea what that is or how it got there. Is that…voidflame?”

Cal nodded. Uncertainty crept over him as he studied the High Commander. Cal might not be able to read auras like the real Griff, but he liked to think he’d gotten pretty good at reading people in his line of work. And while he was inclined to dismiss High Commander Pern’s claims as a desperate gambit to save himself, his reaction seemed genuine enough to Cal. He wasn’t acting the way a guilty man should. Cal should know—he’d been one plenty of times himself.

But if the High Commander hadn’t hidden the void orb there, then who…

Without warning, the void relic flared to life in his grip. He dropped it with a startled shout. The orb rolled across the floor a short distance before coming to a halt, seemingly unharmed. A violet tinge obscured the air throughout the office like seeping mist while waves of dark voidflame rose to blanket the walls in unbroken tapestries of pristine violet emptiness.