Chapter 23 · A Warrant for the Core

"You want me to walk into the council vault with you." I didn't move from the crate. "The same vault where they keep execution records."

Mara was already checking the door seals, her fingers running the frame like she was mapping weak points. "Not with me. Ahead of me."

"Oh, that's better."

"Rowan." She turned, and the look she gave me could've stopped a charging horse. "Crowe's exit route goes through the undercroft. We have maybe two hours before the bells reset and everything you just survived turns into a warm-up round."

I stood. My legs still felt like someone had replaced the bones with wet rope. "And you need me because?"

"Because the warrant I'm holding has your name on it, and the guards at the vault gate won't blink if I'm dragging you in on a leash." She pulled a folded slip from her coat. The paper looked official. The ink looked fresh. "I wrote it ten minutes ago."

"You wrote yourself a fake warrant."

"I wrote myself a real warrant with flexible truth." She tapped the seal. "Captain's discretion. Temporary detention for interrogation purposes.