Chapter 6 · The Name They Stole

"Drop the book, Dax, or I make sure you don't walk out of this alley."

Evelyn didn't move. The three men behind her did. Hands sliding to those jagged scrap-blades.

Dax didn't even look at her. He clutched that leather ledger to his chest. Knuckles white.

"You're out of your depth, Evelyn," he said. "Go back to your holes and pretend you still run the slums."

"My holes?" Evelyn laughed. Sharp. Ugly. "This is my district. And that book belongs to the people you purged to buy that shiny little ring."

My wrist was still throbbing. That bone shard buzzing under my skin. The mark on my chest burning like a hot coal. I didn't trust Dax. Not after he burned Leo without blinking. But I needed that ledger. If it had the routes — if it had why Leo was on that cart — I couldn't let her take it.

"Give it to me," I snapped. I stepped between them. "Both of you. Just give it to me."

Dax finally looked at me. Eyes dark. Scanning for a crack.

"You're shaking, Mara," he said. "You can't even hold your own weight. Step back."

"I'm not shaking." I was.