The weakness was gone.

“Are you going to be okay?” I asked.

“I have the truth now, Sienna,” he said, keeping his eyes on the road. “A tailor taught me how to see it.”

“I only looked at the seams,” I said.

“That’s where the strength of a garment lies,” he replied.

We drove in silence for the next twenty minutes, the only sound the steady sweep of the windshield wipers.

The security gate to his penthouse building opened silently as we approached.

We took the private elevator up to the top floor.

The elevator doors opened into the quiet luxury of the penthouse.

The air was warm, smelling of cedarwood and beeswax.

I let out a breath I didn’t realize I’d been holding, dropping my wet coat onto the marble entryway bench.

Aries walked over to his desk in the corner of the living room.

He took the translucent paper out of his pocket and laid it flat under a heavy glass paperweight.

“Tomorrow at midnight,” he said, looking at the date written on the sheet. “The meeting is at the library.”