Chapter 23 · Save the Gargoyle or Take the Core

"You're under arrest." Vale's voice cut through the room like a blade through bone.

Mara didn't move. The manifest was still in her hand, her license number still burning in her vision like an afterimage. Behind her, Calder shifted his weight, stone scraping against floorboards.

"Both of you," Vale added, stepping into the doorway. Two officers flanked her, hands already on their batons. "Conspiracy to traffic sanctified relics. Forgery of audit credentials. Theft of city property."

"That's not—" Mara started.

"Your license number is on the shipping log." Vale's smile was thin and sharp. "Signed. Sealed. Scheduled to clear Blackwater Gate in forty minutes."

Mara's grip tightened on the paper. "I didn't authorize anything."

"Then someone's very good at forging your handwriting." Vale tilted her head. "Or you're lying. Either way, the warrant's valid."

Calder stepped forward. His claws scraped the floor, loud in the silence. "She had nothing to do with this."

"Of course she didn't." Vale's gaze slid to him, cold and amused. "You just happened to give her a six-year-old manifest with her own name on it. What a coincidence."

"It's a setup," Mara said. Her voice came out steadier than she felt. "You know it is."