Chapter 13 · Blood-Stained Lies

"Tell her, Cain. Tell her who signed the order."

Silas sneered, slamming a medical report onto the mahogany desk. The thud echoed like a gunshot in the silence. "Or should I read the fine print for you?"

I didn't look. I couldn't. My lungs felt like they were full of wet concrete. I stayed frozen, back pressed against the cold stone wall, staring at Cain. He hadn't moved. He was too close. His presence was a suffocating weight, his eyes like obsidian shards cutting right through me.

"Get out, Silas," Cain said.

It wasn't a shout. It was a low vibration—the sound a predator makes right before it snaps a neck.

"What's the matter? Can't handle the truth in front of your new pet?" Silas stepped forward, boots clicking sharply on the marble. "Ten years, Ivy. Ten years you thought she died of a fever. But the Regent’s office doesn't sign off on fevers. They sign off on executions."

I looked down. The paper was smeared with a faded red stamp.

*Execution Order. Subject: Elena Vance. Authorized by: Imperial Regency Office.*

My world tilted. The air vanished from the room.

"No," I whispered.