Chapter 15 · The Forged Heiress

"Put the file down, Kaiser."

Kaiser stopped with one bloody folder tucked beneath his arm and a knife loose in his hand.

Varan stood behind me, one palm braced against the table. His breath scraped hard. The black veins at his throat had spread since the last marrow charge, and the heat coming off him pressed against my back through two layers of wool.

Kaiser glanced at the folder, then at me.

"You asked for proof about your mother," he said. "I brought it."

"You brought blood."

"It isn't hers."

"That wasn't my question."

His mouth tightened. "Move away from the table, Sula."

Varan's hand closed around the hilt of the sword at his hip. "Try ordering her again."

Kaiser turned his head. "I wasn't speaking to you."

"You walked into my war room with a knife. You don't get to choose who answers."

The file landed on the table between us. Red drops slid from its leather tie and spotted the map beneath it.

My mother's name was stamped across the cover.

ELARA MORTON.

For one second, I couldn't breathe.

Not because of the name.