She never thought that silence could be louder than screams.
That morning, someone put the note under her lab door: "Rules exist." Do what they say. No sign, and no threat just some ink on paper with edges that curled.
As she touched the black script, the words echoed in her mind. Selene folded the note, put it in her coat pocket and went to the Marrins & Vale Foundation building.
She felt like someone was watching her, and every step she took was heavy with footsteps she couldn't see.
Behind the glass doors, the city was a dull roar. Inside the air was clean, the ceilings were high, and the surfaces were cool. She let Dorian take the lead. At first, he didn't say anything.
They walked quietly, their shoes tapping on the marble floors. The guards nodded but didn't look at Selene.
Her stomach tightened. She knew the unspoken rules of this place: be polite, keep your distance, and don't talk too much.
She also knew how easy it was to break those rules.
He let people in the lift pushed the button for the 18th floor.
The lift went up, and there was a lot of silence between them. Selene's voice finally broke through: "You once told me that rules were just ways to hide fear." Dorian's eyes met hers in the mirror on the lift wall.
"Fear can protect you sometimes." She turned away, her breath catching. Rules can keep you safe and keep you in.
When the doors opened, the foundation's inner sanctum stretched out in front of them. There were glass walls, private offices, low lighting, monitors showing old video, scent tests, and digital logs that flickered.
The air smells like new sheets and old secrets. He brought her to his office. There was both shiny wood and cold steel on his desk.
There was a small, unopened vial made of thick, opaque glass in front of his keyboard. She knew the design: it was her own work, a formula she thought no one else had seen.
She was sitting across from him. "What is it this time?" she asked. She spoke in a low, shaky voice. He lightly touched the vial with a finger.
"Something you made, or almost made." Selene's throat closed up. "You are using me again."
Dorian didn't move. "I need you." She glared. She tightened her fist.
"You say that all the time. But I'm not just someone you need. He got up and walked to the window that looked out over the city. The clouds are getting dark and low.
"Do you want to make some art with me? Not just a scent, Secrets, or strength. The magic of what people keep from themselves? I can't do that by myself. Her heart raced.
She looked at the vial as if it had her own blood in it. He turned around. His voice was soft. "Obsession in a bottle needs two souls: one to taste and one to distill."
Her breath stopped. Their power dynamic, which was always changing, changed. He needed her and used her, and she fought him but wanted him to be honest. Her fingers twitched, wanting to grab the vial, break it, taste it, and undo it.
She got up quickly. The glass rang. "What are the rules here?"
What are the ones I keep breaking without saying anything? He walked around the desk, holding out his hand as if to touch her cheek, but then he stopped. His shadow felt like velvet on her skin.
"Don't stare too long." Don't touch until you're asked. "Don't ask questions whose answers you don't want to hear." She jumped, her voice dry.
"You've broken all of those rules." He moved closer. "Because you can't always find the truth by following rules."
They stood in almost complete darkness, with only the city lights coming through the windows. He smells like rain, wood smoke, and regret. Her heart rate went up. He bent down so that their faces were only a few inches apart.
"I want to show you something." She stayed still. He made a small thing. A screen that stretched across the whole wall flickered.
There were videos of Selene's typing, formulas, workshop, back room, and fire. The dark covered her.
A person walking behind her workbench. Her scream. A hand picked up the vial, her vial, and held it as if to test it. Her breath stopped and the video looked like it was spellbound, time turned.
Dorian's voice was quiet. "You see the pattern, right? The signs you thought you missed. She shook her head.
"No." I don't want to see. The screen changed: the woman in white from the gallery. Someone else:
Eliora, tied up in the lab with the lights on. A person who looks like Lucien. The data logs show when Selene slept, when she made formulas, and when she put prototypes in safes. Things she didn't write down.
Selene's heart stopped. "You messed with the logs." He turned his head. "Someone did." Her vision got narrower.
Every secret she hid came crashing down on her. She stepped back. Her hand hit the desk hard. "Why are you showing me this now?" He stepped forward.
"Because you're asking the right questions." She swallowed and her voice was tight. "And what about the rules?"
The ones we don't say out loud? Have you lived by them? He stopped. Her beauty when she's angry. The fire in her eyes. He bent down a little.
"I never said I would. But I swear I'm trying to live by the truth.
She looked at him, pain and desire mixed. Then his phone rang loudly. He looked down, a message: The surveillance feed has been hacked.
Someone broke into the lab she couldn't breathe. Eyes wide open. They both turned quickly to the door. Footsteps in the hall: rushed. Somewhere, a door slams. Fear.
Dorian took her hand. "Stay behind me." She raised her head. Something about the way he stood defensively, fierce. Her heart began to race. The door to his office burst open.
There was a woman standing in the doorway. The coat is still white.
The same smell she knew all too well: patchouli, violet leaf, and something she made years ago. The same woman who sent the picture. The same person who waved from across the restaurant.
She had something in her hand, a needle, a small bottle. A last smile, half a challenge, and half a confession.
"You broke the rules," the woman said in a soft, cold voice.
Selene's breath stopped. "What do you want?" The woman's eyes darted to Dorian, then back to Selene.
The smile got bigger. "To keep you from hurting yourself, or killing you in the process. The light in the hallway flickered.
Selene could taste fear in her mouth.
A woman in white comes in with a syringe or vial; it's not clear if she wants to save or kill.