Chapter 39 · The Name They Can't Erase

"Mara, move!"

Adrian slammed his palm against the glass between us as Marlow's mark crawled up his throat.

The tribunal feed filled every screen in Vesper Bay. Adrian's face hung over the harbor tower, flashed across shop windows, and shook on the cracked tablet in Tessa's hands.

TRAITOR. IDENTITY THIEF. PRIMARY HOST FOR THE RESET.

His name flashed once.

Then the letters began to burn away.

"He's deleting you," I said.

"No." Adrian's jaw locked. "He's making the city believe I was never here."

Marlow stood behind him in the tribunal chamber, one hand raised toward the memory grid. His black oath mark glowed across his knuckles.

"Mara Voss," he said through every speaker, calm enough to make my teeth hurt. "You have one access key left. Feed it into the grid, and Adrian Rook will be restored as the legal scapegoat. Refuse, and the city will forget you both."

Tessa shoved the tablet into my hands. "The raw file's still open. Your mother's memory is in the vault. Release it now, and it goes to every screen in the city."

"And Marlow gets Adrian's name."

"He already has it," Adrian snapped.