Chapter 27 · The Life Kael Stole

The pin was warm in Rin's palm. That was the first wrong thing. Metal didn't hold heat like that. Not unless something living was trapped inside.

She turned it over under the dim lamp in Mira's back room. Black lacquer. No markings. But when she tilted it, she could feel weight shift inside, liquid and slow. Her father had pressed it into her hand right before the thread between them snapped. Before he forgot her name. Before whatever they'd done to him dragged him back under.

She knew what this was.

She just didn't want to be right.

"Let me see it." Mira leaned over her shoulder, squinting. Her fingers were still stained red from the last patient. "That's high-grade work. Sealed vessel. You don't find those outside of imperial vaults or sect archives."

"My father stole it," Rin said. Her voice came out flat.

"From where?"

"I don't know. He didn't get the chance to tell me."

Mira reached for it. Rin's hand closed into a fist.

"Easy." Mira backed off, palms up. "I'm not going to take it. I just want to check the seal.