Chapter 39 · What did you just say?

His face went still.

I didn’t know why the words came out. I didn’t know what they touched. But the reaction told me they had found something.

The blade trembled.

"What did you just say?" he asked.

"I said you always put yourself between me and the knife."

"No. You said once."

The archive voice whispered through the shelves.

"A lie preserved. A life purchased. A name buried."

Dax’s jaw locked.

"Don’t listen to it," he said.

"It’s talking about you."

"It’s trying to split us."

"Maybe it’s trying to tell me what you won’t."

"You don’t want that answer."

"You don’t get to decide what I want."

The judgment seal on his chest opened like a burning eye.

Dax gasped and dropped the blade.

A red line shot from the seal to the ledger in my hands. The pages flipped faster, cutting my fingers. Ink filled the paper in thick, wet strokes.

THE LIAR WHO SAVED MARA VENN.

My breath caught.

"Saved me from what?"

Dax looked away.

"Answer me."

"Not here."

"You don’t get to choose the room anymore."

"Mara, listen to me. If the archive finishes the name, the judgment will take payment.