Chapter 14 · A Dead Man's Entry

The ledger sat between them like a loaded gun.

Mira hadn't moved since the line appeared. Her fingers were still pressed flat against the table, knuckles white, breath shallow. Lucan could see the pulse jumping in her throat. The ash page had gone dark again, but that last entry was burned into both their heads.

Mira Thorn's father. Still breathing.

She looked up. Her eyes were too bright, and Lucan knew that look. It was the same one he'd worn in the hospital when the nurse came out and said they'd need to talk about options. Desperate hope wrapped around a blade.

"Show me," she said.

Her voice didn't shake. That was worse.

Lucan leaned back in his chair and let his hand slide off the ledger. The bone was still warm under his palm, residual heat from whatever the hell it had just done. "I don't control it."

"You opened it before."

"It opened. I just bled on the right spot."

Mira stood. The chair scraped loud against the stone floor. She came around the table, and Lucan's spine went tight. She moved like someone who'd spent years learning how to close distance without giving a tell.