Chapter 30 · Varric Buys The Whole City

“Drop the book, Silas. Or I start peeling the skin off your fingers one by one.”

Varric didn’t scream. He didn’t have to. His voice was a low, bored drawl that made the hair on my arms stand up. He didn’t look like a Guild Overlord right now. He looked like a butcher who’d just found a piece of meat he actually liked.

Ten feet away, four Enforcers closed in. Their armor clinked—rhythmic, heavy, inevitable.

I didn't move. I couldn't. My brain felt like it had been scrubbed with sandpaper. I looked at the Ledger in my hand—the god-damn book that was supposed to make me a king—and then I looked at Kaela.

She was right beside me, blade drawn. But her eyes were wrong. The fire she usually had for me—whether it was rage or something softer—was gone. She looked at me like I was a piece of luggage she’d been hired to carry.

“Kaela, get ready,” I snapped. My voice sounded hollow. “We fight our way out.”

She didn’t blink. “Who are you again?”

I froze. “What the hell are you talking about?”

“The contract,” she whispered, glancing at the glowing ink on her wrist.