Chapter 28 · The Execution Starts Early

Varric was already on the platform when Rin hit the square.

Not waiting in the judge's alcove. Not watching from the tower balcony like he had every other time.

He was standing dead center, right where the chains usually locked her down, and the entire execution scaffold was wrapped in a layer of shimmering script that looked like someone had peeled the night sky off and nailed it to the wood.

Rin skidded to a stop at the edge of the crowd. Her ribs were still screaming from the fall through Mira's clinic roof. The reset pin was a cold, sharp weight against her sternum, tucked under the torn edge of her shirt.

Kael was three steps behind her. She heard his breath hitch.

"He moved it up," she said.

"By six hours." Kael's voice was flat. Too flat. The kind of calm people used right before they did something stupid. "He knows."

"Yeah." Rin wiped the blood off her knuckles onto her pants. Her hands were shaking. She made them stop. "He knows we're close."

The crowd wasn't the usual execution-day mob. It was smaller, tighter, and way too quiet.