Chapter 2

Lucan still held Bram's wrist. His thumb pressed against the pulse beneath Bram's glove, and the muscles in his forearm stood out hard and tight.

Bram looked at him. "Let me go."

"You heard him," I said. "Let him go."

Lucan's attention shifted to me. Bram looked at me like he owned every room we entered. Lucan looked at me like he was measuring how close I stood to a blade.

"You want him free?" Lucan asked.

"I want him away from me."

"That wasn't my question."

"Then ask the one you actually want answered."

His gaze dropped to my mouth for half a second. The movement was quick, but I caught it. Heat touched the back of my neck before I could stop it.

Lucan's grip tightened around Bram's wrist.

"I want this hearing to continue without him putting his hands on you," he said.

Bram laughed once. "Careful, Thorne. The Black Seal doesn't give you the right to interfere with council business."

"It gives me the right to stop evidence contamination."

"She's the contamination."

"Then prove it without touching her."

The chief examiner slapped one hand against the table. "Release him, Investigator."

Lucan let go.

Bram jerked his arm back and rubbed the red mark forming beneath his cuff. "You'll regret that."

Lucan's face stayed blank. "Get in line."

A nervous murmur moved through the council chamber.

The chief examiner lifted the blood report. "Miss Bell, the sample taken from Master Hollis matches the curse residue on your gloves."

"Those gloves were planted."

"Your private seal was pressed into the wax."

"My seal was stolen."

"You expect this council to believe someone broke into your office, stole a blood sample, changed the vault record, forged a report, and planted the gloves without leaving a mark?"

"No," I said. "I expect you to believe someone with access to the council archives did it."

Bram folded his arms. "The only person who knew your method well enough to fake the residue was you."

"You mean you."

"I never had access to your lab."

"You had a key."

"For emergencies."

"You used it every night."

His mouth curved. "To see you."

The answer landed harder than it had any right to. Bram saw it and leaned into the opening.

"You trusted me," he said. "You let me into every room. You told me every weakness in your work. You gave me the words to destroy you. Don't blame me because you were careless."

My throat burned, but I stepped close enough to see the tiny red vein in his left eye.

"You want to know what was careless?"

He bent toward me. "Go on."

"Thinking I needed your name to survive."

His smile vanished.

I pulled the ring from my finger. The metal had cut a shallow line into my skin. Blood welled along the edge as I threw it at his chest.

The ring struck him and dropped onto the council floor.

Bram stared at it.

"Pick it up," I said.

He didn't move.

"Pick up the ring you used to buy my silence."

"You're finished."

"Not yet."

"The council can sentence you before sunset."

"Then stop talking and watch."

I turned toward the council. "That ring carried his household seal. He used it to bind my work to his name, then used the same name to make me look like a murderer. Check the contract ledger."

The chief examiner's expression hardened. "You will not dictate procedure to this court."

"I'm not dictating anything. I'm telling you where he hid the proof."

Bram took one step toward me.

Lucan moved at the same time.

His back stopped inches from my chest. Soap and metal clung to his coat. When my fingers brushed his shoulder, heat came through the fabric.

"Stay there," he said.

"Don't order me around."

"Then call it advice."

"I was exposing him."

"You were letting him get close enough to cut your throat."

"He wouldn't dare."

Lucan turned his head. His jaw hovered near my temple, close enough for his breath to warm my cheek.

"He already dared. Look at your wrist."

His gloved fingers brushed the bruises Bram had left there.

It was barely a touch. A check. Nothing more.

My skin reacted anyway. I pulled my arm back.

"Don't touch me."

"Then stop bleeding on the floor."

"I'm fine."

"That's a lie."

The words struck deeper than they should have.

Bram watched us with narrowed eyes. "How touching. The Black Seal investigator has chosen a side."

Lucan faced him. "I chose evidence."

"You don't know her."

"I know what a forged blood report looks like."

Every voice in the room died.

The chief examiner lowered the paper. "Are you challenging this report?"

"I'm saying it needs to be tested again."

Bram's voice sharpened. "The report was certified."

"By whom?"

"By the council examiner."

"Name him."

Bram said nothing.

Lucan took the report from the examiner's hand before the man could pull it away. He held it toward the nearest lamp.

"The ink is wrong," he said. "The sample was sealed with black salt, but Hollis's curse residue reacts with iron salt. Whoever prepared this copied the method from a secondhand record."

My breath caught. I had noticed the same flaw that morning, but the council had shoved the report in my face and called for my arrest before I could examine it.

"You read curse evidence?" I asked.

Lucan glanced down at me. "I read anything that can put someone on an execution platform."

"You believe me?"

"I believe the report is bad. Don't confuse that with trust."

"You could've said that before he branded me a murderer."

"You weren't listening before he grabbed you."

"I was busy being betrayed."

His eyes held mine. For one sharp second, the council chamber blurred behind him. His face was too close. His hand was still near mine, his glove grazing the edge of my sleeve.

"Betrayal makes people careless," he said. "Don't give him another weapon."

I swallowed. "And what weapon are you holding?"

His gaze dropped to my bloodied hand.

"Not mine."

The chief examiner struck the table again. "Investigator Thorne, submit your objection in writing. Miss Bell, surrender your evidence tools and remain under guard until the council reaches a verdict."

"No."

Two wardens stepped toward me.

Bram's voice turned soft. "Nora, don't fight them."

I looked at him. "You don't get to use my name like you still own it."

One warden reached for my arm.

I shoved him back.

The chamber erupted.

A seal flared beneath my boots. Black lines raced through the white stone and locked around my ankles. Pain snapped up my legs, hard enough to steal my breath.

I dropped to one knee.

"Hold her!" the chief examiner ordered.

The second warden grabbed my shoulder.

Lucan caught his hand and twisted it away from me.

"Don't activate a restraint seal against an unconvicted examiner."

"Stand down," the chief examiner said.

"Shut it off."

"You aren't in command here."

Lucan's eyes went cold. "Then someone else should explain why the seal is using her blood."

I looked down.

The black lines had climbed over the toes of my boots. Red light pulsed inside them, matching the blood on my hand.

Bram stepped back.

Only one step. But I saw it.

"You knew this would happen," I said.

His face went still. "Don't be ridiculous."

"You told them to use a blood-bound seal."

The chief examiner stared at Bram. "You recommended the restraint?"

Bram's silence answered for him.

Lucan crouched beside me, one hand hovering over the glowing lines without touching them. "Nora, what did you sign when Hollis gave you that ring?"

"Nothing," I said. "I never signed his contract."

The seal tightened around my ankles.

Bram finally moved toward the fallen ring. "You signed it with blood."

Lucan's head snapped toward him. "What did you bind her to?"

Bram's fingers closed around the ring, and the red light under my boots flared—