Chapter 31 · The Name in the Ink

"Say it." Sona's fingers were white around the page, knuckles bone-tight. "Out loud. So I know I'm not losing my mind."

Rhys Kaldane. His own name, dried into the ledger where a stranger's death used to be.

"You already know what it says."

"I want to hear you say it." She shoved the page at his chest, hard, and his back hit stone. The tower stairwell was too narrow for this. For her that close, breathing fast, one fist twisted in the front of his coat. "Or are you gonna lie about this one too?"

"I haven't lied to you."

"You've left out half of everything since the second we met." Her blade wasn't drawn but her knuckles pressed into his sternum like she wanted it to be. "Don't call that the truth."

He could smell tallow smoke in her hair. Candles from the bell tower, still clinging. Could feel the heat coming off her palm through the wool. She'd chased him three flights because she wasn't letting this go, and he'd let her catch him because some tired, stupid part of him wanted her to.

"It says my name." Flat. He kept it flat. "That's it.