I’d never seen an aura like it. Of course, humans weren’t supposed to be able to see auras at all, but in the last, desperate years of war, the FHP had come up with an experimental augmentation, and I’d volunteered in a reckless attempt to save my squad.

Most of the test subjects had lost their minds from the strain. I had not, but it had been touch and go. Chunks of my memory were still hazy.

Ultimately, it didn’t matter. Aura colors didn’t seem to be directly related to power levels or abilities, at least not in any way we’d been able to determine with our admittedly limited study. Maybe the FHP knew more now, but I’d cut ties and ensured they stayed cut by making myself scarce. I’d served my time. I wasn’t giving them any more to be a test subject.

I stopped focusing and my head throbbed. It’d been a while since I’d used that particular ability and my body wasn’t used to the strain anymore. Or maybe time had softened my memory of the constant pain of war.

The soldier with the ruby aura turned their head toward me but didn’t attempt to enter my mind. Had they felt me looking at their auras?

I mentally shook off the past and met Torran’s dark eyes. I wasn’t close enough to see all of the colors, but a clearly visible line of silver traced a vibrant lightning bolt pattern across both of his irises. I forced myself not to look away. “What was stolen?”

“A family heirloom. I will explain further once we’ve reached an agreement.”

His tone said he wouldn’t elaborate, but I pressed anyway. “It’s hard for me to agree when I don’t know what I’m hunting. If the thief stole a unique, easily identifiable piece of art then finding it is far easier than if they stole a generic piece of jewelry.”

Torran said nothing. His team’s subtle movements highlighted his incredible stillness. He could’ve been carved from stone. And, indeed, I’d met rocks that were more forthcoming.

I tried again. “How long ago was your mystery item stolen?”

“Approximately eight standard days.” The tiniest curl of his lip told me exactly what he thought of referring to human time units as the standard.

I wrinkled my nose, both at him and at eight days. More than a week was a long time for a trail to go cold. We’d gotten lucky picking up older bounties in the past because of Kee’s ability to find information, but that might not help us on Valovia. “Kee, you finding anything?” I asked under my breath.