Chapter 18 · Names in the Old Deal

"You knew she was in there."

Daniel stood in the doorway, hands empty, face unreadable. I had the ring clenched in my fist so tight the metal cut into my palm. The black line crawled up my wrist now, threading under the skin like ink in water.

"I told you not to go in the river," he said.

"You told me a lot of things." I stepped toward him. "You didn't tell me my mother made a deal. You didn't tell me she put her name on a contract that's still open."

He didn't move. "Because you wouldn't have believed me."

"Try me now."

He looked at the ring in my hand. Something shifted in his expression—not surprise, more like resignation. Like he'd been waiting for this.

"Where'd you find it?"

"In the river. Under the dock. Where she left it." I held it up between us. The silver caught the hallway light, and for a second I thought I saw names etched into the band. But when I blinked, they were gone. "She said my name. My real name. The one she stopped using after we moved."

Daniel's jaw tightened.