Chapter 32 · The Name Before Midnight

"Don't say it."

I grabbed my father's wrist before the second syllable could leave his mouth. His skin was cold, papery, wrong. He looked at me with eyes that weren't quite the right shade anymore.

"Mara." His voice was gentle. Patient. Like I was still ten years old and didn't understand the grown-up conversation. "This is the only way to break the lock."

"Then we find another way." I yanked him back a step. The cuff on my wrist burned, Calder's pulse hammering through the link so hard I could taste stone dust in my throat.

Seraphine's wand hadn't moved from Calder's chest. He was on his knees on the deck, wings pinned flat by whatever spell she'd layered over him. Blood dripped from his claws onto the metal. His head was down, but I could see the tension in his shoulders. The way his jaw was locked.

"Mara Voss." Seraphine's voice cut through the wind. "Your father is offering you a solution. The core responds to true names. Calder's name will open the lock. You'll have your pay, your license, and your life. He'll have his sentence."

"She means gravel," Calder said. His voice was rough, scraped raw.