"Louis Reveur sent me," Cristo lied.

The boss sat down behind a polished hardwood conference table and took out a cigar which lit itself by the time he put it to his lips for a puff. There was a smell of molten ash that could have been from the burning nub as much as the star that lit it on fire.

Snow had started to fall again as if it had politely waited for the masqueraders to enjoy the night air and leave before sending down the rest of its load. There would be a few inches by morning. Light from offices across the city started to go out. Cristo wasn't seeing this through a window, but through a wall to wall viewing link — it wasn't a corner office, but that didn't prevent the boss from attaining a view.

It had been the plan to tell Potestas the truth. That he was meant to die tonight. He was allowed to tell Potestas that much. Nova dropped her cat mask onto the desktop so Cristo could better see the annoyance on her face. Or see that she was watching him. He knew her playbook.

That's what was so unnerving. He had no intention of playing into her hands by following the plan she knew about. He knew her. She tilted her head and narrowed her eyes at him exactly like the time he dropped a stack of her textbooks out the library window to get her to stop studying. The cold in her cheeks and her frost bite gaze was the same every time he tried to kiss her up until the time she kissed him, or maybe including that time, and every time he confessed that he had told his dad a lie. At least he was always honest.

He had to lie to Potestas for now.

"Your friend Reveur knew everything. He sent me to stop it. And Leander."

Leander studied him hard. He might suspect that Louis Reveur had not sent Cristo. He might be deciding whether to separate himself from Cristo, who seemed to be under suspicion. He might keep quiet for now, observe, build a case against Cristo and use it on him later.

Instead, Leander said, "Yes, Doctor Reveur sent us to protect you, Mr. Potestas." He began to pace, somewhat self-importantly, as if taking the lead. Amusing. "That's how we knew the details of the assassination plot and were able to counter it effectively. Doctor Reveur's investigation uncovered the specifics of the plan — the approximate time, the locations and roles of the three shooters, the modus operandi. The motive. Mr. Somnare will explain the whole story." His confidence almost tripped Cristo up. He was playing along.

Doubtful it was to help Cristo; more likely Detective Prince wanted leverage on him. What was surprising was how quickly Detective Prince had decided his best move.

And Cristo didn't correct Leander on his last name. He had no plans to tell any of them that.

"We're lucky Louis came across such precise details," Cristo said, just for something to say, just to maintain his own confidence. He swallowed a lump in his throat and tried to relax.

"How exactly did you sneak a gun into Potestas Tower?" the boss asked.

"I didn't have any more trouble than the three assassins," Cristo said. He tried to meet Nova's hostile slits and the boss's coal eyes. "I had it easier. Louis Reveur's gun was able to fire in Potestas Tower because it was connected to Constellation's magic when you gave it to him. It wouldn't have fired for anyone except him until he died, but sadly he was executed tonight." He expected a reaction from Potestas and Nova "Dasilva" to that, but both waited for him to answer their question. Leander kept his mouth closed and his eyes on Cristo, trained not to miss a thing. "The connection to Constellation transferred to me after he died, when I fired the weapon. But just how did assassins get their hands on three connected weapons? Did they get away with murdering three of your staff?"

There was a knock on the door, and when the boss told it to, it opened. Stephen Potestas rushed in. The door closed and Stephen said, "There was a security breach tonight. Lien Cassus and her co-conspirators had guns connected to Potestas Tower's magic."

"Thank you, Stephen," said the boss. "We had that much figured out, but if you can explain how it was done I might be impressed. Just how did they manage to get past your security system?"

Stephen choked on his answer; either he didn't know or he had bitten his tongue when the old man yelled at him.

Cristo helped him out. "Someone with authorization had to connect them." He let it sink in that there was a traitor in Potestas's employ, then asked, "Is there any way to determine who?"

"There might be," Stephen said. "We can check the router the same way the guardia track illegal magic by reading the display on the gnomon of the star dial."

"Whoa, back up a bit. I don't work at Constellation," lied Cristo.

"Or own a router?" asked Stephen.

Cristo shook his head, truthfully. Contemporary routers would be obsolete in no time.

Stephen eyed him out of the corner of his eye and began to explain, directing his presentation to everyone in the room, including his father. "Most employees of Potestas Tower need magic connections for their jobs. They gain access through our router." He occasionally dropped his eye contact to look down at the desk in front of him. He spoke fast as if nervous. "The router draws magical energy and necessary schematic data from the star dial in downtown Soliara. That's Constellation's magical conduit. It looks like a giant sun dial.

"The gnomon attached to the star dial is like the time-telling rod on a sun dial, the part that casts a shadow. It's massive, and it displays a visual representation of every connection — millions of magic connections across the entire Solari Empire. We know that the router sends information back to the star dial as well, because every time we commit an act of magic, a visual display on the star dial shows it in real time.

"The router, a smaller version of the star dial, shows the connections of all of our Potestas Tower employees. Technically, it should be possible to see who committed an act of magic on the router. The purpose of visual displays must be to reveal the identity of the magician and the nature of the action.

"Unfortunately, we're unable to read much of the data yet. There has to be some fingerprint or genetic code involved, because the router displays the same information every time we use magic. One connection orb that lights up like a little star represents each individual magician. We can't glean identities from the display, however; we've had to record which orb is which manually. Worse, the display only shows which connection was used in real time, at the moment of an act of magic. There's no history."

"I have a question," said Cristo. "Didn't you design the damn thing? What do you mean you haven't learned to read it?" The boss gave a vindicated nod, as if enjoying a hole picked in an age old argument between father and son.

Stephen met his eyes nervously for a half second flash. "The evolution of magic has been a combination of invention and guided discovery, and while we built these tools, it was to facilitate the transfer of energy we discovered already present in the universe around us. We followed a schemata designed as a combination of human ingenuity and nature. I think we're only gleaning a small percentage of information that should be possible to read. I think we should be able to see the location of an act of magic, its nature, and the identity of every magic user."

"I agree with that," Nova piped up. "It's an elaborate display, and a number of the design elements would be redundant if they were only intended to show a small amount of information. It seems likely that we're intended to learn how to read much more. But what Stephen claims is unverified and unfalsifiable. So far."

"And what does Stephen claim?" asked Cristo.

Stephen rushed to answer for himself. "I think I can find traces of the data after it's faded — like the afterimage of a bright light on your eyeballs. And I think I can read the identity of the magician and the exact act of magic. If we perfect my method, it will become impossible to use magic illegally, whether without a license or to commit a criminal act with a legitimate license. The company and the university have been unable to replicate my results, no one else can read past events on the router except for me, but I've done extensive testing, and I'm right every time."

"It's guesswork," said the boss.

"It's not. I've been right three hundred and eighty times in a row. Out of two possibilities I would only be right half the time if I were guessing. The possibilities are limited only by the imagination, yet I'm always right."

"Except for that time you were wrong," said his father.

"I was able to identify my mistake and to determine the correct answer. That was human error."

Cristo broke in again. "How do the guardia catch criminals then?"

"Constellation can only determine that an act of magic was committed — without knowing what it was — and its location. That's enough info for the guardia to track down an unlicensed, illegal connection — when an unregistered individual gains illegal access to magic. It's only visible at the time of the act, but the guardia watch twenty-four/seven. Once a pattern emerges, the location can be used to facilitate the arrest of the correct suspect.

"But it's useless in a case like this. We can't prosecute a crime committed by a licensed user yet. We can't identify who committed a particular act of magic — and after it took place, we can't see any information regarding it on the display.

"Imagine the implications, though, if we could. If the router's display could show us every act of magic, and the identity of every magician — we could deter magic related crimes entirely. We could deter the use of magic to commit murder. We're on the cusp of being able to prosecute magic related crimes and abuse with infallible certainty.

"What you're asking me to find is a single act of magic committed by a licensed individual after it has taken place. No one was watching the router at the time a licensed magician made the connection. We missed it. The Potestas Tower router connects over ten thousand employees in Invernali. Any one of them could have connected the assassins to the router.

"Unless I'm right. In which case I should be able to determine who."

The boss shrugged, no longer interested in the argument. "Lock down the router. We'll investigate it tomorrow. What I really want to know is why anyone would possibly want to kill me." A hint of a grin lit the corner of his mouth. For the first time since the gun fire, his demeanor had become relaxed. "Did Louis tell you the reason?"

Cristo shook his head. "It might not be a good idea for me to tell you, Boss. I don't think Louis wanted me to. He thought I should handle this." About to tell the truth about everything else, his lies about Louis Reveur were growing; Cristo had never even met the man.

A/N Thank you for reading Stars Rise, a novel in the Constellations universe. Please stay tuned for the chapters to come, and if you like the story, you will love the short Constellations on my profile: When Inyanga Goes to Magicians College, Bay Works At the Cloud, and It Feels As If A Spell Has Been Placed Over Izara's Neighborhood.

If you had a good time, please leave me a 🌟. This story updates often, so come back soon!