The ledgers lay open on the table, their pages pale and pristine, a canvas waiting for the fingerprints of doubt. I leaned over them, letting my eyes drift across columns and totals, each number a potential spark. Kara hovered, confident she had uncovered a truth no one else could see. She didn't notice the subtle manipulation I had slipped in, the tiny misalignment, the sum that didn't quite belong.
drip… hum… metallic scrape…
Lyric's ring sigil had been "found" in the margin of a page. Perfectly placed, innocent enough to pass scrutiny, damning enough to plant the seeds of suspicion. I watched Kara trace it with her fingers, her expression alight with that smug glow people get when they think they're the hero of a story. Heroes are overrated. I'd rather be the author.
shuffle… faint tap… low murmur…
The room's shadows stretched longer as the hum of the Veins beneath vibrated through the floor. I could feel it resonating with the tension, echoing the paranoia I had just seeded. Every faction had someone watching, waiting for a sign, and now they had one though it wasn't real. It was mine.
Kara's whisper broke the quiet. "He's hoarding… Carrow's hiding more than we thought." She looked at me for confirmation, and I smiled just enough to be unreadable. "Interesting theory," I said, letting the words hang like smoke. "Now, watch how everyone else jumps to conclusions."
tap… scrape… distant hum…
Paranoia is contagious. I could feel it spreading already, unseen tendrils curling through factions, turning allies into potential enemies. A ledger wasn't just numbers it was a weapon, and this one had already drawn first blood.
I closed the ledger slowly, letting Kara believe her discovery was monumental. Let her bask in the illusion of insight. Let her pride fuel the chaos. Lyric would react, factions would fracture further, and I'd remain the quiet architect of all of it.
soft metallic echo…
As Kara left to deliver her "findings," I allowed myself a dry chuckle. "It's funny," I muttered under my breath, "how easy it is to make people dance… when they think they're leading."