Chapter 20 · Mom's Dirty List

The brass tag sat in Mira's palm like a stolen bone.

Rin couldn't look away. Her mother's name, etched in those neat, deliberate strokes she remembered from childhood ledgers. The lamp swung once more, slow and lazy, painting the walls with shadows that crawled.

Mira turned the tag over. "You wanna tell me why this was inside him?"

Kael didn't answer. He just sat there on the cracked stool, shirt half-off, bandage already soaking through. His eyes stayed on Rin.

Rin hated that. Hated the weight of it. The way he looked at her like she was the one who owed answers.

"Give it here," Rin said.

Mira hesitated. Then she dropped the tag into Rin's hand.

The metal was still warm. Body heat. Blood heat. Rin closed her fist around it and felt the edges bite into her palm. Her mother had carried this once. Touched it. Maybe threaded it onto a cord and worn it under her robes where no one could see.

And somehow it had ended up lodged under Kael Pei's ribs.

"I need a minute," Rin said.

Mira snorted. "You need more than that.