Chapter 24 · The Signature on My Death

"Put the royal signet in my hand, Lucan, or admit you're protecting the person who signed my death."

Nora held out her palm.

The Black Seal archive seemed to shrink around them. Shelves climbed into the dark, packed with locked boxes and curse-stained ledgers. Blue lamps burned along the walls, their light catching on the silver chain between Nora's wrist and Lucan's.

Lucan stood three steps away, coat still buttoned, face hard enough to cut glass.

"You want to use the crown's seal?" he asked.

"I want to open the deepest vault."

"That isn't what I asked."

"Then ask better questions."

His mouth tightened. "You know what that seal can do?"

"It can open records your Black Seal badge can't touch. It can erase a guard's order. It can command the archive itself." She curled her fingers. "And it can show me how many execution orders you carried for the crown."

The chain at her wrist pulled tight.

Lucan's eyes dropped to it. His thumb rubbed once over the black metal clasp, slow and distracted. The movement looked calm. His knuckles had gone white.

There. That was the part he didn't want her seeing.

Nora stepped closer. "How many, Lucan?"