Chapter 9 · He spun on her. Fast. Too fast. Lyra

He spun on her. Fast. Too fast. Lyra flinched before she could stop herself. He saw it and stopped, hands up, breathing hard. He didn't come closer. Not yet.

"No," he said. "My partner was Eli. My brother. Actual brother. And my father cut his line. Not me. He left Eli down there because Eli heard something near the Eye. Something that would've proved my father was selling routes to the forbidden trenches. So he cut him loose and pinned it on me. And everyone believed him. Because who the hell argues with Caelum Vance?"

The name hung in the damp air. Lyra's throat went tight.

"Eli's dead?" she asked, quieter now.

"Eli's dead. I'm dead on paper. And Silas gets to wear my family crest while he hunts the same damn Eye my father wanted." He looked at her then, really looked at her, and his eyes dropped to the black lines crawling up her arm. "That's why I need it. The Ancient Eye. You think I want treasure? I want a body. Proof. I want to drag my father's throne down into the trench with him."

Lyra swallowed.