Chapter 20 · The Crown Trial

"They're already burning it."

Kael's warning barely reached Eliza over the boots pounding up the main stairs. She kept climbing anyway. The marriage cuffs had rubbed both wrists raw, and every grip on the stone reopened the cuts.

Valen was three steps ahead, one shoulder dark with blood from the trial. Kael dragged himself behind her, breathing hard.

"How long?" Valen asked without looking back.

"Minutes. Gareth sealed the archive." Kael coughed. "If he burns the contracts, he can claim Silverthorn."

"Then we get there first."

"The stairs are full of guards."

"I noticed."

Valen kicked open the stairwell door.

Three guards waited on the landing.

The first lifted his sword. "That's the—"

Valen's blade cut him off. Steel punched through his throat. The second guard swung wildly, but Valen drove a boot into his knee. Bone cracked. Kael shoved Eliza past them before the third man could raise his weapon.

"Don't stop," Kael snapped.

"I wasn't planning to."

They reached the archive door. Fresh iron bolts held it shut from the inside. Smoke slipped beneath the frame, thin and bitter.

Eliza pressed her palm to the wood.