Chapter 8 · The Ash Ledger - Chapter 8: Inside the Gate

The tracker sat cold against the back of Rowan's neck.

He didn't touch it. Didn't stop walking. Soren had let him go, which meant Soren wanted him somewhere specific—probably wherever Mara was about to hit next. The Ledger pulsed once against his wrist, soft and almost lazy, like it was watching him figure it out.

Rowan turned down the alley that led to the southeast wall. The one Mara said she'd hold until dawn.

He didn't owe her anything. She'd put a knife to his ribs two days ago. She still thought he might be a plant. But the mark on his wrist had pulled him through three gates already, and every time he ignored it, someone else paid.

So he kept walking.

The streets were empty now. Most of the civilians had pulled back to the inner wards after the second wave hit. The ones still out here were either looters or runners for the garrison, and none of them looked at him twice. Rowan kept his head down, shoulders loose, hands visible. The kind of walk that said he belonged.

The wall loomed ahead, black stone streaked with scorch marks and old blood.