Chapter 15 · Trade Your Brother

The glass shards weren't just glowing. They were rearranging themselves on the concrete floor, scraping into words like someone was writing with a broken pen. Blood-red light pulsed through each jagged piece.

Evira's breath caught. The letters spelled out clean and sharp: ONE VIAL. ONE BROTHER. SUBLEVEL THREE. MIDNIGHT.

Marcus crouched next to the message, his jaw tight. "That's not your blood doing this. Someone's got a link to you already."

"Vivian." The name tasted like rust in her mouth. Evira's fake ID badge dug into her ribs through her binder. Evan Kern didn't have a brother on record. Evira Kern did. "She knows."

"How much does she know?"

"Enough." Her voice came out flat. She was so tired of lying. "Felix got grabbed two weeks ago. Ransom note said ten thousand marks or they'd sell him to a rift station. I came here for the bounty."

Marcus stood, glass crunching under his boot. "And now she's offering a trade. Your blood for his release."

"Yeah."

"It's a trap."

"I know."

He looked at her like she'd just said she was planning to dive headfirst into a rift. "You're still going."

She met his eyes. "He's twelve."

Marcus didn't argue.