Chapter 685: Enough of Other People's Business
The clerk finally opened his case four hours after the wagon left.
Leon shifted beneath the tarpaulin, easing his weight off a beam that had been pressing into his ribs. Through the shed's lit window, he could see the man set the case on a bench and turn something inside it.
Across the room, the captive straightened.
His hands stopped trembling. He looked down at them, flexed his fingers, then reached for the tools the clerk placed in front of him.
"There," Leon murmured.
Seraphine was already studying the change.
"The suppression weakened when he adjusted it," she said. "I can follow the connection now."
So could Leon. With the controller active and the captive circulating again, the restraint's structure was much easier to distinguish. The bands pressed against his channels, limiting how much energy he could move. The case regulated that pressure through a thin spiritual tether.
