Chapter 17 · The Debt That Breaks

"Take the core, Mara, or Soren becomes the city's collector forever." Veyra's voice came from every black surface around us. "You have three breaths to choose."

The bone key burned through my palm.

Soren stood between me and Nolan, one hand pressed to his temple. Blood ran from his nose. His eyes kept losing focus, then snapping back to me like he was fighting his way through a locked room.

"Don't listen to her," he said.

"You don't even remember what she did to you."

His jaw tightened. "I remember enough to know she wants you to touch that thing."

Behind him, Nolan was trapped inside a ring of open debt marks. Each seal had a thin red line pointed at his chest. His face had gone pale, but he still held the broken ledger against his ribs.

"Mara," he called, "the core isn't a payment. It's the source. If you take it, every marked person in the city gets tied to you."

"And if I don't?"

Veyra answered for him. "Your brother dies first. Soren follows. After that, every debtor in the city kneels to me.