Chapter 10 · The Girl on the Reset List

Mara shoved the council order into Deputy Garren's chest hard enough to make him step back.

"You want to put cuffs on a twelve-year-old girl."

"Captain, I'm following—"

"I know what you're following." Mara's voice dropped into that cold register Rowan had heard twice now, both times right before someone hit the ground. "Read it again. Out loud."

Garren's jaw worked. The station hall was narrow, all iron and slate, and the morning watch was filtering in behind him. Four uniforms. All of them watching.

Rowan stayed against the wall near the stairwell, the black bell nail still hot in his pocket. His ribs ached where the dead soldier's blade had punched through—except that hadn't happened yet. Or it had. The reset made his skull feel like someone was pouring sand through it.

Garren cleared his throat. "By order of the Crowe seat, detain and transfer custody of Lissa Vale, age twelve, to Lord Sevrin Crowe's household for questioning in the matter of—"

"Stop." Mara's hand came up. "Household. Not station. Not court. Household."

"Captain, it's a council order."

"It's a kidnapping with a wax seal."

One of the younger guards shifted his weight. Rowan caught the look—