Elara dropped her torch, scrambling to Laurent's side. The professor was weak, his breath shallow, but his hazel eyes were full of desperate warning.
"Elara, listen to me. This entire place is rigged. He knew you would come back. You've brought the key he needs—the Loss."
Before Elara could reply, a voice echoed down the spiral staircase, slow and measured, as if delivered during a museum lecture.
"It is immensely gratifying to be correct, Elara. Truly, the moment a scholar breaks their adherence to protocol, they become utterly predictable."
Monsieur Dubois descended into the light, looking immaculate in a tailored suit, his polished shoes silent on the damp floor. Trailing behind him was Henri, holding not a weapon, but a familiar, soot-stained tweed coat—Jules's.
Dubois stepped to the center of the chamber, surveying the scene—the ancient cabinet, the terrified captive, and the resolute young curator—with profound satisfaction.
"Where is Jules?" Elara demanded, the silver key pressed so tightly into her palm it cut her skin.
Dubois merely nodded toward Henri, who dropped Jules's coat onto the floor. "The reporter proved difficult. He will be disappearing from Parisian society, just as Laurent would have, had you not provided us with such an excellent piece of bait."
"You monster," Laurent croaked. "She came back for me. That is the one thing you Argentum fools could never understand."
Dubois ignored the professor, focusing his entire attention on Elara.
"The professor calls me a fool because I rejected Vance's moralizing. Elara, you found the Hourglass Key—the key to the mechanism. And you found the Broken Circle Key—the key to the philosophy. But neither of these things is the treasure." Dubois gestured grandly to the imposing iron cabinet.
"Inside this regulator cabinet is the true secret: the Alchemical Regulator."
He explained, his voice swelling with self-importance. "Vance did not transmute gold. He mastered the stabilization of the Ley Lines. This city, Elara, sits upon a nexus of power that has been dormant for centuries. The Regulator controls that power, keeping it safe and dormant."
Elara's mind raced, connecting the esoteric diagrams in Vance's journal. "The Regulator stabilizes the lines—it's a geological failsafe! If you remove it, or use it incorrectly, the energy will destabilize the foundation. It could cause an earthquake, or worse, destroy the city."
"Precisely!" Dubois clapped softly. "That is Vance's intended ethical burden! He claimed that the power could only be used responsibly if the user was willing to accept 'loss,' meaning the destruction of the key and the containment of the power for the common good. Sentimentality! We, the Argentum Society, believe that power, once found, must be owned and wielded. We will remove the Regulator, study it, and then apply its power to ourselves—granting eternal life and power to the chosen few."
He walked to the cabinet, placing his hand on the metal. "I opened the lower lock with the Hourglass Key, proving I understand the mechanics of Eternity. But Vance was thorough. He designed the cabinet to require both keys to be inserted and turned simultaneously."
He faced Elara, his eyes glittering with cold calculation.
"Laurent would never have given up his knowledge of the second key's location, even under duress. But you, Elara, with your misplaced loyalty and your need for order, you brought the key to me, believing you were saving your friend. You found the second key because you were willing to accept the Loss of Jules."
Dubois stretched out his hand. "Now, give me the Broken Circle Key. You have done your part for history. Hand it over, and you and the professor may still live to see the dawn."
Elara stared at the two men: the monstrous mentor and the beaten friend. She understood Vance's philosophy perfectly now: the key wasn't the goal; the act of rejecting power was. Dubois demanded the key of Loss, but he was fundamentally incapable of understanding its philosophical weight.
"No, Monsieur Dubois," Elara said, her voice echoing with resolve in the cold chamber. "You may understand Eternity, but you do not understand Loss. And you will not have this key."