Chapter 20 · The Debt Picks a New Name

"Put the knife down, Nora."

Selene's voice comes from behind me, calm as glass. I don't turn around. My hand's still on the ledger, the one Kael said could wipe any debt clean if you knew how to bleed on it right. Milo's name is scrawled three lines down, next to a number that makes my stomach twist.

"Your brother's alive," Selene says. "For now."

I turn slow. She's standing in the doorway of the vault, backlit by the hallway's cold white glow. No weapon in her hands. Doesn't need one. Behind her, two hunters flank the exit, rifles slung low but ready.

"Where is he?"

"Safe. Fed. Wired to a heartbeat monitor that isn't mine." She steps inside, heels clicking on stone. "You know whose it is."

Mom's.

I don't say it. Don't give her the satisfaction.

"You want him back," Selene says, "you give me Kael's mark. The one crawling up his spine. The one that makes him heir to the whole Mercer empire."

"I don't have it."

"No. But you can take it." She stops three feet away, close enough that I can see the faint scar above her eyebrow.