Chapter 29 · The Receipt

"The council's sitting." Valerius had his shirt on and not one button through it.

I sat up with the sheet balled in my fists. "On what?"

"On you." He got one button. Missed the next. Quit. "Severance. Vane stands up, calls the bond corrupt, calls the Luna unfit to carry it, calls the oath broken, and has the pair of us out that gate before first light."

Carry it. That word went in under my ribs and stayed there.

"Say one sentence in that tower," he said. "Stand up, say it out loud, and he's got nothing."

"No."

"Then don't." He dragged a hand down his jaw. Stubble rasped. "But you'll stand next to me while he does his talking, and every wolf in that hall will read your face for it. That's not a threat. That's arithmetic."

"I don't lie to you," I said. "That was the deal."

"I know what the deal was." He picked his belt up off the chair and didn't put it on. Just stood there holding it. "Five nights ago I stood in that hall counting heartbeats through your door like a man counting money. You told me come in or go to hell.