The alarm had nothing to do with Lucian.
He knew that before the second bell.
The sound came from the front courtyard rather than the ward lines protecting the private rooms. Boots rushed toward the public entrance. A guard shouted for the gates to be sealed, followed by an order to search the grounds.
Lucian remained beside the reinforced cabinet.
Whatever happened outside had changed the estate's movement, but it had not exposed him. Leaving the counting room without the cylinder would turn a complication into failure.
He rested two fingers against the cabinet lock.
The connection between the case handle and the weight plate resolved more clearly than it had moments earlier. The skill did not explain the mechanism. Lucian understood it because he had spent years learning how locks, springs, and counterweights behaved. Mechanism Sense allowed him to perceive how the hidden parts connected.
He removed a slim packet of tools and a coil of fine wire.
