Chapter 33 · The Gatekeeper's Gambit - Chapter 33: The Name He Buried

He didn't get a second to lie.

The man in the Judge's seat leaned in, mask throwing a cheap gold shine across the hall, and said it again like he wanted it carved into the floor. "Lin Mo. That's you. Say it."

Su Jin's head turned. Slow. The kind of slow that meant she was already picking which bone to break first.

Yun Sheng didn't turn at all. She just shifted half a step closer to Mo Han's left, fingers on the cracked bell-cord like she could yank the whole Spire back if she had to.

Wei Tiegu laughed from the gallery. Not loud. Just enough. "I told Seven he was dirty. Look at him. Can't even own a name."

Mo Han kept his eyes on the mask. If he looked at Su Jin now, she'd see it. The flinch. The old-life panic that didn't belong in a twenty-three-year-old Keeper's face.

"Seat's occupied," he said. "You want a name, file it through Preliminary like everybody else."

The masked man tapped two fingers on the armrest. The wood answered with a thin, ugly note. Same pitch as the lock they'd just broken.