Chapter 79 The Art Of Deception

• The sound of our footsteps echoes through the foyer as Tavin opens the door for me. I’m still thinking about our conversation on the grounds, my mind still nitpicking every word Tavin and Ivan used as if I could find more hidden between the lines. But before I can decode any of it, movement catches my eye, making my steps falter.
• Efrem stands with Dimitri near the grand staircase, their heads bent close in hushed conversation. At our entrance, they both turn, and the air seems to thicken. Dimitri’s guards flank him like shadows, their faces impassive but their eyes alert. The silence stretches, heavy and suffocating, until Efrem breaks it.
• “Konstantin,” he says, his voice carrying that familiar note of authority. “Please escort Dimitri and his men to his office.” His eyes meet mine briefly—a look loaded with meaning I don’t yet understand.