Chapter 15 · Her Mother's Debt

The tracker on Leah's wrist burns.

She rips her sleeve back. The seventy-third bar glows white-hot, pulsing like a heartbeat. Aiden's staring at it too. His face has gone pale in a way she didn't think was possible for someone already dead.

"Explain," she says. Her voice comes out flat. "Now."

The man they just saved is still on the floor, wheezing. Ink lands on his chest and caws once. The guy passes out.

"Your mother," Aiden starts. He won't look at her. "The woman I spared. She made a deal."

Leah's hand goes to her knife. "What deal."

"The council wanted her dead. Lung disease. Stage four. She had maybe six weeks." He's talking fast now, words tripping over each other. "I got there and she was sitting in a hospital bed holding an ultrasound printout. First trimester. She asked me to wait."

"You didn't wait. You let her go."

"I let her go," he agrees. "But she didn't walk free. The council doesn't do charity. Someone always pays."

The tracker flares hotter. Leah hisses and grabs her wrist. The glow spreads up her forearm like an infection.

"She traded her remaining time," Aiden says. "Six weeks.