Chapter 17 · Guilty in Her Voice

The scaffold's speaking in her voice.

Mara hears it. Her own words. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. A thousand versions of herself saying the same thing, layered over each other like broken glass grinding together. The execution frame isn't just announcing Julian's sentence. It's making her announce it. Over and over. Her throat closes up but the voices don't stop.

Julian's not breathing.

She can feel it. The binding in her chest goes slack, then pulls tight like a noose. Her pulse hammers but his doesn't answer. The hot key in her hand turns to ice. She almost drops it.

Elias laughs. Low and satisfied. "There it is."

Mara's legs want to fold. She locks her knees. The scaffold behind her is still chanting guilty in a hundred versions of her voice and she wants to scream at it to shut up but her throat won't work. Julian's on his knees in the dirt. His head's down. His shoulders aren't moving.

"You turned it," Elias says. He sounds like he's watching a door open that he's been kicking at for years. "You confirmed the contract. Execution approved. The city's going to feel it in about thirty seconds.