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Soren Dax had a crossbow on him before Rowan could pull air into his lungs.
"Traitor!" Soren's voice cracked through the alley. Three more city guards fanned out behind him, blades already drawn. "On your knees, Vale. Hands where I can see them."
Rowan raised his hands. Slow. The black mark around his wrist pulsed once, warm against his skin. Not now.
Mara stepped half in front of him. Her knife was still out from the tunnel.
"He's with me," she said.
Soren's eyes flicked to her. Then back to Rowan. The crossbow didn't move. "Don't care who he's with. Council wants him alive. That's the only reason you're both still breathing."
"Council wants a scapegoat," Rowan said. His throat was still raw from the smoke. "You know that."
"What I know is you were in the war room when the gate seal broke. What I know is half the inner district's on fire and you walked out with an enemy officer." Soren took a step forward. The bolt was aimed dead center at Rowan's chest. "So yeah. Scapegoat works for me."
Mara's grip shifted on her knife. Rowan saw her weight move to the balls of her feet.
"Don't," he said. Quiet. Just to her.
She didn't look at him. "He's not taking you."
"He doesn't have to." Rowan kept his eyes on Soren. "You want me? Fine. Let her walk."
Soren laughed. It wasn't a nice sound. "Let the siege commander walk. Sure. I'll just tell the council I felt charitable."
"Tell them you want the real traitor." Rowan dropped his hands an inch. Soren's finger twitched on the trigger. Rowan froze. "I can prove the gate seal was rigged from the inside. You bring me in, they'll bury it with me. You know they will."
Soren stared at him. The alley was too quiet. Smoke drifted in from the north. Somewhere close, glass shattered.
"You've got thirty seconds to make this worth my time," Soren said.
Rowan's mark pulsed again. Hotter this time. A line of text burned across his vision.
**TACTICAL OPPORTUNITY DETECTED. SOREN DAX: ASSET OR LIABILITY? SCAN AVAILABLE.**
He blinked the prompt away. Not yet. He didn't trust the Ledger's idea of opportunity.
"The gate seal didn't just break," Rowan said. "It was pulled. Someone with a council clearance crystal triggered the fail sequence and locked the inner logs. That's why your investigators can't find the gap. There isn't one. It was clean."
Soren's jaw tightened. "And you know this how?"
"Because I saw the burn pattern. And because the Ledger showed me."
That got a reaction. Soren's eyes went to the mark on Rowan's wrist. The guards behind him shifted. One of them muttered something.
"So you're bonded," Soren said. "That makes it worse."
"Or it makes me the only one who can track the real trigger," Rowan said. "Your call."
Soren didn't lower the crossbow. But he didn't fire either. He looked at Mara. "Why are you still here? Your army's outside. You could've been gone by now."
Mara's expression didn't change. "I have my reasons."
"Not good enough."
"Then shoot," she said. "But you'll have to go through me first."
Rowan felt the air go tight. Soren's knuckles were white on the stock. One of the guards started to move left, trying to get a clean angle on Mara.
"Wait." Rowan stepped forward. Half a step. Just enough to pull Soren's attention back. "You want the truth? She's hunting the same thing I am. Someone's running this siege from both sides. If you bring us in, you lose the only thread you've got."
Soren stared at him. Long enough that Rowan could count his own heartbeat.
"If I let you walk," Soren said, "and you run, my family's collateral. Council made that real clear."
Rowan went still. "What?"
"My wife. My daughter. They're in the upper terrace under 'protective custody' until I bring you in." Soren's voice was flat. "So no. You don't get to ask me to trust you."
The mark on Rowan's wrist flared. Text scrolled fast.
**LEVERAGE IDENTIFIED. SOREN DAX: FAMILY DETAINED, COMPLIANCE ENFORCED. EXPLOIT? Y/N.**
Rowan's stomach turned. He swiped the prompt away hard enough that his hand shook.
"Three hours," he said.
Soren blinked. "What?"
"Give me three hours. I'll find you proof the council's dirty. Something you can take public. If I don't, I'll turn myself in. You get your family back, and you get me."
Mara turned to stare at him. "Rowan—"
"Three hours," Rowan said again. He didn't look at her. "That's the deal."
Soren's jaw worked. He didn't lower the crossbow. But his finger eased off the trigger.
"You run, I'll hunt you both," Soren said. "And I won't bring you in alive."
"Understood."
Soren lowered the crossbow. Slow. His guards didn't move. "Three hours. Then I'm coming for you."
He turned and walked. The guards followed. One of them looked back, but Soren snapped something and they kept moving.
Mara waited until they were out of sight. Then she rounded on Rowan.
"Three hours," she said. "What the hell are you planning to do in three hours?"
"Find the seal log," Rowan said. "And hope we don't die doing it."
She stared at him. Then she sheathed her knife. "You're insane."
"Yeah. Probably."
They moved fast. Mara knew the outer district better than he did, and she led them through a mess of collapsed scaffolding and burned-out storefronts. The smoke was heavier here. Rowan's eyes watered. His mark kept pulsing. Every few minutes a new prompt tried to claw its way into his vision. He ignored all of them.
They turned a corner and stopped.
The street was full of bodies.
Not soldiers. Refugees. Maybe twenty of them. They'd been running for the inner gate when something hit them. The burn marks on the walls looked like artillery. One of the bodies was small. Too small.
Rowan's mark went hot. Text exploded across his vision.
**CASUALTY FIELD DETECTED. ANALYZE FOR TACTICAL DATA? RESOURCE GAIN AVAILABLE.**
**CORPSE LOOT: +40 EXP, +2 SKILL SHARDS, +15 LEDGER FAVOR.**
**CLAIM? Y/N.**
Rowan's vision went red. Not from the prompt. From something deeper.
He grabbed the mark with his other hand and dug his nails in. The text flickered.
**CLAIM? Y/N.**
"No," he said. Out loud. His voice was shaking. "No. Shut up."
Mara looked at him. Her face was pale. "What is it?"
Rowan didn't answer. He pressed harder. The text wavered. Then it fractured. The prompt dissolved into static and went dark.
The heat faded. His hand was bleeding. He didn't care.
"Rowan." Mara's voice was quieter now. "What did it want?"
He looked at the bodies. Then at her. "It wanted to tag them. Like loot."
She went very still.
Rowan forced himself to keep moving. They picked their way through the street. He didn't look down. He couldn't. If he looked, he'd stop, and if he stopped, he didn't think he'd start again.
They reached the far side. Mara ducked into a narrow gap between two buildings. Rowan followed. She stopped next to an overturned supply cart and crouched.
"We need to move faster," she said. She wasn't looking at the cart. She was scanning the street behind them. "If Soren changes his mind—"
"He won't." Rowan's voice came out flat. "Not yet. He needs the proof."
"And if we can't find it?"
Rowan didn't answer. He leaned against the wall and tried to breathe. His chest felt tight. The mark was quiet now, but he could still feel it. Waiting.
Mara was quiet for a moment. Then she reached under the cart.
"Rowan," she said.
He looked up.
She was holding something. A small metal disk. The surface was engraved with a council seal. The kind only the inner ministers carried.
She turned it over.
There was a number carved into the back. Rough. Done with a blade, not a forge stamp.
Rowan recognized the format. Prison registry.
Mara stared at it. Her hand was shaking.
"That's Kael's number," she said. Her voice was barely there. "My brother. That's his cell."
Rowan pushed off the wall. "How did it get here?"
She didn't answer. She was still staring at the disk. Her knuckles were white.
"Mara," Rowan said.
She looked up. Her eyes were hard now. Angry.
"Someone left this," she said. "Someone who knows where he is."
Rowan looked at the seal. Then at her. "Or someone who wants you to think they do."
Mara's jaw tightened. She closed her fist around the disk. "Either way, I'm finding out."
She stood. Rowan grabbed her arm.
"Wait," he said. "If this is bait—"
"Then we spring the trap," she said. She pulled free. "I'm not walking away from this."
Rowan stared at her. Then at the seal in her hand.
The mark on his wrist pulsed once. Soft. Almost pleased.
He didn't look at it.
"Three hours," he said. "We've got less than three hours."
Mara's smile was sharp. "Then we'd better run."