he empty corporate hallway, the squeak o

ey saw, just another fac

more importantly, it

y Keeper, a practitioner of an old family art, ensu

heir Appalachian holler, held the

fifty million dollars, that was

er that made her sit down

horne, a name synonymou

, was dead, sui

a lineage continuation ritu

place, make it li

but the job, it smelle

suicide?" Elara had asked Thorne's

on, Mr. Thorne is aware of my usual rates for eith

lence hang, he

y, this was about something

said, "Mr. Thorne understands the unique nature of yo

word for it, reck

his office, but a sterile, private m

arved from granite, ey

his voice rough, "he took

tragic, he sound

ly legitimate son, I need his line to contin

were cold,

host baby and

five million is for the ritual

pecifically, that' s an additional fiv

more, but his desperation was

blink, "Done, en

trol, even ov

rty million was thirty million

as less a home, more

d and imposing,

ing and something else, something alm

tering staff setting up d

rt," he said, handing her a precisely pri

ers tingling faintly as

it, the symbols

immediately, j

k of strained grief, "He was my

ittle, maybe it was real, m

rcumstances, the media will b

plea in his eyes,

steady, "I'll need it now, before I see the room, given the... emotio

n of the chart, but nodde

silent shadow, pr

s there, cr