CHAPTER 103: JAMESON

In Avery’s room, Jameson watches Avery repeatedly examine Alice’s poem by the fireplace that anchors many of his memories. They wait for a call from Jackson, who agreed to alert them if Eve appears. Jameson considers Alice’s phoenix metaphor, wondering whether it referred to Eve or to destroying the Gilded Blade so something new could rise.

They note what seems certain: the Ascendants are gone, the Kyrie head and heir are gone, and the Blade’s web is inaccessible. Yet Avery, subdued since the Crucible, admits she keeps rereading Alice’s words.

Invoking their “Tahiti” code—no secrets—Avery confesses the Crucible wasn’t entirely horrible. Jameson realizes she’s reflecting on the Blade’s original purpose: women collaborating to shape the world, cascading small changes into larger ones, even if that power became corrupt and violent.

Avery insists the killings and judgments had to end, but recalls Alice taking her hands after the Crucible and saying there was always another door, and that Avery’s story was meant to be a different kind of fairy tale. Jameson connects that phrase to Tobias Hawthorne’s game style—and to Alice, who taught him—centering fairy tales as a possible key.

As Avery presses him, Jameson recognizes he’s onto something. At that moment, Avery’s phone rings. Believing it to be Jackson—news about Eve—Jameson urges her to answer and confirms he’s found a lead.