Crystallis Verdantglass's Arc

Chapter 17 of 18

Crystallis watched the buyers settle at the druids' stalls, but a flash of movement at the far end of the hall pulled his eye. The administrator had not left. He stood beside a tall glass-paneled display case the vendors used as a shared showpiece, its colored panes glowing like a small greenhouse under the lamps. A buyer Crystallis did not recognize stood beside him. Crystallis crossed the floor. On a side table near the display, a delicate glass willow sculpture caught the light, and beside it lay a folded document sealed with dark wax. The administrator slid the document toward the buyer's hand. "A notice from the original leaseholder," he said. "The hall's prior claim was never cleared. Any lease signed here is void." The buyer turned the seal over. The mark pressed into the wax was the same crest Crystallis had seen on his own lease papers. Crystallis picked up the document before the buyer could open it. He broke the seal himself and read it aloud—every line, slow and clear. The claim named no court, no date, no signature beyond the administrator's own. "This is his handwriting," Crystallis said, holding it up. "He sold me the lease. Now he writes notices against it." The buyer stepped back from the administrator. Two druids and the woman from Thornwick had drifted close enough to hear. The administrator reached for the paper. Crystallis tore it in half, then in half again, and dropped the pieces beside the glass willow. "You're done here," he said. The administrator left through the corridor without his staff. Crystallis turned to the buyer and gestured toward the first-row stalls. The sale would close before noon.