Chapter 40: An Honest Enemy

The next move belongs to whoever can live with its cost.

The pursuit collides with the minister of hours selling stolen childhoods to the wealthy, forcing an alliance that neither Silas Bell nor Ada Winter is ready to name.

The trap is clever because it offers exactly what the hero wants. Recognizing that desire becomes the only escape.

Silas Bell keeps the larger goal in view: return the missing days before the city forgets an entire generation. The immediate problem is smaller, sharper, and impossible to postpone.

The confession is incomplete, yet honest enough to change the temperature of the room.

Their attraction grows through competence, danger, and the first honest confession.

The recurring signs of watches, brass, Sunday light return with a different meaning, linking this choice to what came before.

The evidence points toward someone they have both been protecting.