"There it is. What do you want?"
His eyes dropped to my mouth.
Only for a second.
Then he looked back at me, and the heat in my face made me want to slap him.
"The case code."
"No."
"Then the marriage is just paperwork. I need access to the evidence."
"You want to open it so your commanders can bury whatever's inside."
"I want to know who blew up my train."
"Your train? You mean the one carrying your officers, your orders, and a locked military cargo hold nobody was allowed to inspect?"
His face stayed still.
His hand closed into a fist.
Good.
I'd found the bruise.
Voss slammed his gavel. "This is absurd. Vale, you cannot force a condemned woman into marriage."
Dorian didn't look away from me. "I can under emergency law. She can refuse."
I blinked. "I can?"
"You can refuse and die in eight minutes."
"That sounds less like a choice and more like a threat."
"It is."
Behind me, the guards started moving.
Rope scraped against the execution platform.
Dorian stepped closer.
"Sign," he said, low enough for only me to hear. "Or Voss gives the order."
"And you get my case."
"I get you through the gate alive."
"You don't care if I live. You care what's in the box."
"Both can be true."
The answer hit harder than a lie.
I shoved the contract against his chest. "I won't be your wife."
His hand closed around my wrist.
His grip was firm and controlled. Heat spread from his palm through the cold metal chain. His thumb pressed over my pulse.
My breath caught.
Dorian noticed.
Of course he did.
His eyes dropped to where he held me. "Save your strength."
"Take your hand off me."
"Sign first."
"Go to hell."
"Already spent the morning there."
I yanked against him.
He pulled me half a step closer instead.
My shoulder brushed his chest. The buttons of his coat caught on my sleeve. His breath warmed the side of my face.
The gallery went quiet again.
Not because they cared whether I lived.
They wanted to watch me break.
Dorian lowered his voice. "Smile. The cameras are on us."
"What?"
"If you look afraid, Voss will call it consent under duress and void the contract. I need you to make this look like your decision."
I stared at him. "You want me to smile while you blackmail me into marriage?"
"I want your brother alive."
My teeth clenched.
Dorian lifted his free hand and touched the back of my neck. His palm covered the base of my skull, holding me still while every camera in the tribunal turned our way.
"Don't," I warned.
"If you pull away, they get the story they want."
"Let them."
"They'll call you guilty before the ink dries."
"You already did."
His eyes sharpened.
Then he bent and kissed me.
It wasn't soft.
It wasn't sweet.
It was a public statement pressed against my mouth, his hand firm at my neck and his body blocking the cameras from seeing how badly my fingers shook.
For one stupid second, I forgot the rope.
His breath caught when I bit his lower lip.
Hard.
A rough sound escaped him, but he didn't pull away.
Neither did I.
That was the part I hated most.
His lips tasted like coffee and blood. His thumb slid beneath my ear, and heat ran down my throat.
I should've shoved him back.
I should've made him bleed in front of everyone.
Instead, I grabbed the front of his coat and held him there.
Dorian broke the kiss first. His lower lip was red.
"You bite every man you marry?" he murmured.
"Only the ones who deserve worse."
His eyes stayed on my mouth. "Then I should be worried."
"You should be terrified."
He released my wrist and placed the contract against my palm. A metal pen was clipped to its edge.
"Sign."
I looked at Eli.
He shook his head harder.
I looked at the rope.
Then at Dorian, standing close enough to catch me if my knees failed. Close enough to make the whole tribunal believe his threat had become a vow.
"If you betray me," I whispered, "I'll take you down with me."
"That's the first honest thing you've said today."
"You haven't earned honesty."
"Sign anyway."
I pressed the pen to the line marked WIFE.
The metal tip scratched across the paper.
The contract heated beneath my hand.
Dorian took the pen and signed beside my name.
The ink flashed silver.
A bell rang beneath the tribunal floor.
The chain around my wrist snapped open.
At the same time, all three locks on the iron case lit red.
Dorian's head whipped toward it. "What did you do?"
"Nothing."
The first lock clicked.
Then the second.
A thin line of light appeared across the lid, bright enough to paint Dorian's face white.
His name burned across the metal.
DORIAN VALE.
His hand reached for the case, but I caught his wrist.
"Don't touch it."
The third lock began to turn beneath our joined hands.
A voice inside the iron case whispered—