Chapter 36 · The Sovereign's Debt

"You're shaking, Silas. Fear? Or just excited to lose everything?"

Kaela's voice was a blade. Cold. Precise. The tip of her steel bit into the skin of my throat, drawing a thin, itching line of red. One twitch. One wrong word. I'd be painting the floor.

I didn't pull away. I leaned into the edge.

"I don't do fear, Kaela," I whispered, my voice grating like gravel. "I do math. And right now? The math says you're the one who's broke."

She narrowed her eyes. Her breathing was shallow, smelling of ozone and old leather—the scent of a woman who'd spent her life fighting for scraps. She pressed the blade harder.

"The Ledger. Give it to me," she snapped. "And maybe I'll let you live long enough to see your house burn."

I let out a sharp, jagged laugh.

"You signed the Consort contract. You're mine now. Legally, spiritually—and if that purple glow is any hint—financially. You didn't just sign your life away, did you? You tried to sell me something."

Kaela stiffened. The cold mercenary mask cracked. For a second, I saw it: pure, raw panic.

"I don't know what you're talking about,"\ she lied.

"Wrong answer.