Chapter 19 · Milo Takes the Stand

The guards hadn't even dragged Rowan out of the chamber when Wantang raised her voice.

"Wait."

Sephra turned, one eyebrow arched. "You wish to delay your husband's detention, Lady Eveline?"

"I wish to finish the questioning." Wantang kept her tone level, even as her pulse hammered. The cloaked figure was gone. Rowan was about to disappear into a royal cell. And the real killer was slipping further away with every second she wasted. "The witness remembered a man at the counter. A man who touched the parcel. That man has a name."

Sephra's mouth thinned. "The witness described your husband's house mark."

"She described a grey mark on a wrist. She didn't name anyone." Wantang turned to the attendant, who stood trembling beside the soul-fire. "Did you see his face?"

The woman shook her head. "The hood was up. I only saw his hand when he reached past me."

"Then we need someone who did see him." Wantang scanned the crowd. Her mind raced through the testimonies, the documents, the inventory logs she'd pried out of the tribunal records. One name had appeared three times in the apothecary guild's certification chain. "Milo Quinn. He was the counter clerk that day.