Chapter 27 · The Ash Ledger - Chapter 27: No Truce Past This Gate

The rifle in Mara's hands was warm. Not from firing. From how tight she'd been holding it for the last two minutes.

Rowan stood ten feet away, hands loose at his sides, the Ledger mark black and sharp around his wrist. Behind him, the control crystal hummed in its cradle—a column of smoky glass taller than a man, threaded with light that pulsed in time with something she couldn't hear. And on the screen bolted to the wall above it, her brother's face. Pale. Breathing shallow. Alive.

"Your choice," the officer said. His name was Venn. Clean uniform, no dust, no blood. He'd walked in five minutes ago like he owned the place. Maybe he did. "Shoot Vale. The protocol releases your brother in four hours. Or don't, and he's dead by morning."

Rowan hadn't moved. Hadn't even looked at her. He was watching Venn the way you watch a dog that might bite.

"Where is he," Mara said. Her voice came out steady. Good. She didn't feel steady.

"Sector hold. Medical wing." Venn tapped the side of the screen. Her brother's vitals scrolled past in thin green lines. Heart rate low. Sedated, probably.