Chapter 8 · The Missing Order

"We're leaving."

Sienna said it the moment they hit the corridor outside Asher's office. Her voice was flat, final. She didn't look at Kael.

"Leaving where?" Kael kept pace beside her, boots silent on marble.

"The safehouse. Tonight. You take whatever evidence you have left and go to ground. I'll file a motion to recuse myself from the retrial and recommend transfer to the northern tribunal."

"That's not a plan. That's surrender."

"Call it what you want." She punched the elevator button twice. "Asher knows everything. He's been holding my leash for fifteen years and I didn't even feel the collar. If he's telling the truth about protecting me, fine—I owe him that much. If he's lying, then we're already dead and this whole thing was theater."

The elevator doors opened. Empty car. She stepped in and Kael followed, hitting the ground-floor button before she could.

"You don't believe that," he said.

"I don't know what I believe anymore." Sienna leaned against the back wall, arms crossed tight over her ribs. "He had my bloodwork. My real name. He could've destroyed me any time in the last decade and he didn't. That's either protection or a very long setup.