Chapter 37

In the Commons outside Candiano, Sancia, cloaked in improvised shadow gear, reaches the eastern gates under Scrapper cover. Using her talent, she interrogates the gates’ scrivings, learns safety checks apply only to opening inward, and instructs each gate to pivot outward on a timed delay before slipping to the next.

Claudia and Giovanni, observing, are startled by a lorica-clad attacker brutally dispatching guards atop a gate, but decide he is not their concern. Meanwhile, Orso and Berenice wait in a carriage, trading anxious remarks until Sancia returns, exhausted, and cues them to listen for explosions.

Moments later, each gate detonates its hinges of logic: the doors whip outward, shatter locks, smash into flanking walls and towers, then topple, dragging sections of the scrived walls down. The collapses roll south at steady intervals, flooding the Commons with dust, noise, and panic—a deliberate diversion far from the team’s position.

In the Mountain, Estelle, half-prepared with Occidental sigils, sees the devastation and suspects Orso. With about thirty minutes until midnight, she orders Captain Riggo to deploy all reserves to contain what looks like a siege, betting she only needs the distraction held off until her ascension.

As the eastern campo dissolves and civilians scream, Orso realizes Sancia has effectively crippled his former house. Sancia insists it is only “airing it out,” a necessary ruse to concentrate Candiano forces elsewhere. Claudia and Giovanni withdraw to pursue Orso’s paperwork and property plan as the city reels.