finished polishing

chapters/book2/ch18-final.md

@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 
 The soundstone warmed against my collarbone three steps past the warehouse wall, and the first thing I heard was a chair scraping across floorboards.
 
-Then again. Then a third time, accompanied by the kind of breathing that suggested someone was trying very hard to sit still and failing comprehensively.
+Then again. Then a third time, accompanied by breathing that hitched on every exhale — someone trying very hard to sit still and failing comprehensively.
 
 Ledger glanced at me. I held up a hand — *wait* — and pressed two fingers against the stone.
 
@@ -56,7 +56,7 @@ The lattice bloomed into my perception like a city seen from above at night —
 
 (*The handshake. The bracelet remembers. Same makers, same era — the key's been in the lock since the tenement.*)
 
-The bracelet warmed against my wrist. Its seal — the one stamped during the drain nine days ago, credentials exchanged like two old colleagues recognising each other's seals — slid into the ledger without resistance. Trusted process. Overuse had loosened the recognition the way a lock wears down after too many keys: the shape was right enough, and the mechanism was too tired to check twice.
+The bracelet warmed against my wrist. Its seal — the one stamped during the drain six days ago, credentials exchanged like two old colleagues recognising each other's seals — slid into the ledger without resistance. Trusted process. Overuse had loosened the recognition the way a lock wears down after too many keys: the shape was right enough, and the mechanism was too tired to check twice.
 
 I was in.
 
@@ -132,7 +132,7 @@ We moved toward the exit. Ledger's tools reappeared — the same practiced quart
 
 The soundstone had gone quiet during the last thirty seconds of the exploit. Not dead — two sets of lungs, one controlled, one ragged. But no more fire. No more impacts. No more screaming.
 
-The night air hit us like cold water. I pulled the jacket tighter — Carter's ore studs pressed against my ribs, warm from the work.
+The night air hit us like cold water. I pulled the jacket tighter — Carter's ore studs pressed against my ribs, still cold. Nothing for them to drink tonight.
 
 Then Kae's voice, and it was a different voice from the one that had charged at Leon's fire. Smaller. Broken open by something the fight hadn't touched.