31. A Kitten by Night

While Hasp sleeps, Kinch picks their door lock with a pin and nail and roams the palace unseen, aided by Low School skills. He pauses to befriend a black cat he names Butter, then evades Sylvae Mar Mexes and her attendants by scaling a low beam.

Drawn by forge-light, Kinch meets Zherit-Nassk, a cyclops master of blackglass. They speak of slavery and books; Kinch offers to bring books, seeking a favor. Zherit-Nassk agrees to craft a key from Kinch’s wax carving, revealing cyclops duality—Zherit by day, Zherit-Nassk by night.

Kinch scouts key locations—the kitchens, library, halls, arsenal, baths, and altars. At Medrena’s chained statue, he petitions for escape and notices what seems a divine tear. Nearby, he detects a disguised service door near the throne room.

Hatching a risky plan, Kinch pries the glowing citrine eye from Thumos’s statue and uses it to navigate the tight, ventilated tunnels. He maps multiple interior exits—by the throne room, great hall, kitchens, ascender, guest quarters, and the water room—discovering puzzling saltwater traces along the way. He returns the eye but keeps the knife.

At dawn, Kinch finds Hasp dead. The court holds a pyre; mourners weep, Renata refuses to speak, and she later wears a bell from Hasp’s hat. Kinch grieves yet resolves not to die in Erydon, taking Hasp’s memory as a warning and a guide.