Chapter 27 · She caught his wrist and pulled his hand

She caught his wrist and pulled his hand away. “Stand beside me.”

His eyes narrowed. “That’s not safe.”

“Neither is standing behind me.”

“Tessa, lock the outer relay.”

“I’m already doing it.”

Riven moved to Mara’s side. Their shoulders touched. He kept one hand near his sword, the other close enough to grab her if the curse surged again.

Mara leaned toward the crystal.

“This is Mara Voss, speaking from the Veycross central archive,” she said. “The Night Court sealed this city three days ago and told you the plague was contained. That was a lie.”

The crystal carried her voice through the receiver. It came back thinner, stretched across old signal lines.

Riven’s face hardened. “Don’t give them your name.”

“They already have it.”

“You don’t know who’s listening.”

“I know exactly who should be.”

She turned the file toward the crystal. The blood-written page trembled under its glass cover. The words had changed again since the gray walkers broke in.