Chapter 23 · The Ledger Doesn't Do Family

The half-key sat between them on the table like a loaded gun.

Mira hadn't moved in five minutes. She just stared at the thing, fingers pressed flat against the wood, knuckles white. Lucan could see the muscle jumping in her jaw. The silence in Cassian's back room was the kind that came before someone said something they couldn't take back.

Lucan broke first. "We know where your father is."

"Behind Orin's door." Her voice came out flat. Dead. "You said."

"Yeah."

"And this opens it."

"Half of it."

She looked up. Her eyes were dry, but something in them made Lucan's chest tighten. "Where's the other half."

He didn't answer right away. Cassian shifted his weight by the door, arms crossed, watching like this was a card game he had money on. The dim lantern light made shadows pool under Mira's cheekbones. She looked thinner than she had a week ago. Harder.

"Cassian's got a lead," Lucan said carefully. "But it's not free."

Mira's gaze cut to Cassian. "What do you want."

Cassian smiled, but it didn't reach his eyes. "My sister. She's in a holding ward. Valehart jurisdiction.