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Of course, he lied

Chapter 80

When the pounding started on the door of the woht it had to be Gavin coain, but the voice was Watch Captain Blademan’s "Hey! Why’s this door locked?! I said all hands on, dammit! I don’t care if you’re naked or on the shitter, I mean now!"

Karris threw the door open, instantly alert, tears forgotten "What is it?" she asked

Watch Captain Blade her che her makeup, her perfu He hesitated only a h his surprise, then decided that whatever this was, it could wait "All hands on, Karris You’re needed upstairs iirl just took a dive off the Prism’s balcony She’s dead We think he threw her"

Gavin stared at the ht slowly His plan was si thereen or blue now A rope was impossible He leaned on the doorframe, sith difficulty He’d never had to think this way before The simplest answer had always been the best With every color in his palette, he’d siure out the best materials for the job Noas like so to solve a problem with a li He hated it

As he turned the probleot dressed He could, he supposed, draft a yellow chain, but that would beg them to ask why he would choose to draft only yellohich wasQuestions like that could be hter

He pushed that out of his mind No time

Just an open , then

Then Gavin saw the shier cloak He knew the choker had to be is around his neck, and there were coldinto his skin unpleasantly

He stepped in front of a mirror He was still very much visible He drew the cloak closed Still visible He closed his eyes and i invisible, willed it, desired it, lusted after it, believed it Cracked an eye Still there

A soft knock sounded on the door Gavin drafted instinctively to defend hiers stabbed into his neck from either side What felt like a sheet of flame shot up and down his body: cheeks hot, scalp afla Then the heat passed, leaving tingling, and the tingling turned to sensitivity, like a tooth shy of a cold drink

He looked into the h himself His face was visible, and a V of his neck where the cloak wasn’t fully closed The collar had injected two needles into his neck Gavin pulled the cloak fully closed, and found there were tiny hooks hidden in the fabric to keep the hood closed even over his face Only his eyes remained The rest of hi through a dirtyIn low light, it would be ainst a wall, it would be perfect But ht, he’d be easy to spot

Louder knocking "Sir, please let us in!"

Gavin ducked his head, to see if he could hide his eyes under the flap of the hood and thus be functionally invisible When he did that, he saw nothing at all Blackness so deep it struck a visceral fear into hi scrutiny, he’d have to make hi