Chapter 21 · Trade Him for Her

The Old Courthouse smells like rust and old blood. Mara can taste it before they even push through the broken doors. Her nose stopped bleeding ten minutes ago but the ache behind her eyes hasn't quit. Julian's right behind her, close enough she can hear him breathing.

She doesn't look back. If she looks back she'll see the guilt all over his face and she doesn't have time for that.

"Mara." His voice is low. "You know this is a trap."

"Yeah." She keeps walking. The main hall is dark except for the contract-light flickering along the walls. Blue-white and cold. It makes her skin crawl. "I know."

"Then why—"

"Because he has Nia." She stops at the base of the stairs. The judge's chamber is up there. She can feel it. The same pull she felt when she rewrote the blood-debt contract, that sick tug in her chest that says someone's playing with oaths she shouldn't be able to touch. "And because you're going to do exactly what I say."

Julian doesn't answer. Good.

She takes the stairs two at a time. Her legs are shaking but she doesn't slow down.