Chapter 19 · “Don’t use it,” Julian said. Silas looked at

“Don’t use it,” Julian said.

Silas looked at him. “You’re giving me orders now?”

“I’m telling you what happens if you burn his contract.”

“His contract is Church property.”

“And my body is the Church’s favorite experiment.” Julian’s voice stayed low. “If you kill the doctor, you lose the only person who can keep me standing.”

Silas’s eyes sharpened. “You assume I need you standing.”

Julian smiled without humor. “You need my blood.”

The guards went still.

Kael looked between them. “What did you just say?”

Silas turned. “You heard a dying man babble.”

“Julian.”

“Don’t.”

“What blood?”

Julian’s jaw locked. “Not here.”

“Then where? In the next cage? On the next table?”

Silas lifted the iron seal. “You’re both forgetting who owns this room.”

The door burst open.

A young Church runner stumbled inside, pale and breathless. “Inquisitor. The lower ward is breached.”

Silas’s face changed.

Not fear. Calculation.

“How many?”

“Three confirmed. Maybe more beneath the old chapel.”

“Lock the east stairs.”

“They already broke the first gate.”

Silas looked at Julian, then at Kael. “Of course they did.”

Kael tightened his grip on the stolen crossbow. “Who’s attacking?”

“Not your concern.