Chapter 30 · The Name Behind the Mask

"On your knees, prisoner. Now." The blood chains snapped tight around my wrists and dragged me across the tribunal floor.

My boots hit the black stone hard enough to split one heel. I caught myself with both hands, but the chains burned through my sleeves and bit into my skin.

Across the chamber, Lucian Veyre stood beneath the tribunal seal in a white coat trimmed with silver. Clean. Calm. Untouched.

He looked at my bleeding wrists and smiled.

"You heard the order," he said. "Kneel, Evelyn."

I lifted my head. "You first."

A few councilors shifted behind the long crescent table.

Lucian's smile stayed in place, but his eyes went flat. "Still pretending you have a choice?"

"Still pretending anyone here believes you?"

The chain at my throat tightened. My knees slammed toward the floor.

Cedric moved before I could fall.

He crossed the chamber with one hand pressed against his wounded side, his coat dark with blood. Two guards stepped in front of him. He didn't slow down.

"Release her," he ordered.

The senior judge raised his hammer. "Commander Vale, you were not summoned to speak."

"Then summon a doctor after I finish making your tribunal regret this.