Max's POV
"Trying to hide from me now?" I muttered while crouching to pick up the fallen book. Ancient symbols covered its weathered pages, indecipherable until this moment.
Had I actually heard Evan Clemens read the word "rogue"?
My eyes narrowed with suspicion.
The letters had transformed, morphing into readable English only after Evan glanced at the page earlier. That translation hadn't existed before. Not until his eyes touched it.
"How is this possible? And why?" I whispered, fingers tracing the brittle, aged paper. My mind raced back to the rogue in those ruins, then again in Silvercrest forest. This couldn't be mere coincidence.
"Max." Elliott's voice cut through my thoughts as he entered the room.
I set the book carefully on my desk and faced him.
"Your cologne," he said, raising the black bottle. "Your suspicions were right. The old wolf who crafts it confirmed tampering."
He passed it to me, his expression dark.
