Chapter 10 · The Blood Mirror

"Move, Evelyn. Now." Cedric caught my wrist before the clerk's next breath could turn into a name.

The old man flinched behind us. Boots hammered closer outside the records room. More than four soldiers. Maybe eight.

I twisted against Cedric's grip. "You heard him. The ledger knows where the Morrow inheritance went. I'm not leaving it behind."

"The ledger is three hundred pounds of dead paper. The soldiers have steel. Pick one."

"I already did."

I drove my shoulder into the shelf.

The ledger slid. Cedric swore and caught it against his chest before it hit the floor. His other hand stayed locked around me, hot fingers biting into the blood oath burned into my wrist.

Pain snapped through my arm.

"Don't touch the mark," I hissed.

"Then stop trying to get killed under my command."

"I'm not under your command."

"You are while my guards are coming for your throat."

The door shook under a hard strike.

The clerk crawled toward the back wall, clutching his robe. "Commander, they won't stop. The order carries the Assembly seal."

Cedric shoved the ledger at me. "Can you walk?"

"Can you stop asking stupid questions?"

His mouth tightened. "Good. You're still difficult."