His grip tightened around the enforcer's wrist.
"I said don't hit her."
"Then stop them," I whispered.
His eyes cut to mine. For half a second, nobody else existed. His fingers were still around the enforcer's wrist. His other hand hung beside my hip, close enough that I could feel warmth through my shirt.
"Give me the phone," he said.
"Go to hell."
"Lia."
"You want the evidence? Take it yourself. Get on your knees and pick it up in front of everyone."
A muscle jumped beside his mouth.
"You don't understand what you're doing."
"I understand perfectly. You want a clean oath record. No witness. No scandal. No woman asking why your council keeps predicting disasters before they happen."
The crowd erupted again.
"She accused the council!"
"Arrest her!"
"Let the guardian handle it!"
Calian released the enforcer's wrist. The man stumbled back, rubbing it.
I saw the decision before Calian spoke. It was in the slight turn of his shoulders, the way he placed himself between me and the crowd without quite facing me.
Not protection.
Containment.
"Lia Vale," he said, loud enough for the livestream mics still scattered across the platform, "you are ordered to surrender all recording equipment and submit to council questioning."
"No."
"This isn't a request."
"Then arrest me. Put your pretty oath on camera. Let everyone see what you do to witnesses after they expose you."
His eyes flashed. "You think the crowd will save you?"
"No. I think your reputation might."
That landed. A few people nearby lowered their phones.
Calian leaned closer. His mouth was near my ear, his voice too low for the crowd.
"You have no idea how close you are to being executed."
My pulse jumped at his breath against my skin. I hated that my body noticed him before my mind could catch up.
"And you have no idea how much I want to make you choose," I whispered back.
His hand lifted.
I flinched before he touched me.
He stopped with his palm suspended beside my face. His fingers flexed once, then dropped.
There. That pause. That refusal to touch me.
He could put a blade through a man without blinking, but he couldn't put his hand on me in front of them.
"Get her down," he ordered.
"Calian—"
The enforcers shoved me toward the black stone set into the center of the platform. The oathstone stood waist-high, veined with dull silver. Every guardian in Esterport swore before it. Every protection order was recorded there.
My evidence drive was hidden inside the seam of my jacket. If they searched me, it was gone. If they took me into council custody, I wouldn't get another chance to broadcast.
I dug my heels into the stone.
"You want the drive?" I yelled at the crowd. "Ask why they need it destroyed! Ask why Calian Vey is standing there while they—"
A strip of black cloth slammed across my mouth.
The gag tasted like oil and old blood.
I bit down hard.
The enforcer shoved my face toward the oathstone. My cheek scraped the rough surface. Silver veins pressed into my skin.
Calian stepped forward.
Hope hit me so fast it hurt.
"Please," I said around the gag. "Don't let them do this."
His face went still.
The crowd watched him. The council watched from the balcony. His oath watched through every black mark on his wrist.
He could reach for me.
He could draw his blade.
He could break the order and lose everything he'd spent his life protecting.
Instead, he stopped.
"Hold her steady," he said.
The enforcer forced my hands flat against the stone.
I looked at Calian over my shoulder. "You bastard."
His eyes dropped to my mouth, to the blood already leaking through the cloth.
"Lia, don't fight the stone."
I bit harder.
Pain burst across my gums. The gag's metal pin cracked between my teeth. I tasted blood, hot and sharp.
Calian's head snapped up. "What did you—"
I spat.
The blood struck the oathstone.
Every silver vein lit at once.
The crowd fell silent.
A black line raced across the stone, curling over the carved names of dead guardians. It stopped beneath one name, then climbed higher, bright enough to hurt my eyes.
Calian Vey.
His name burned across the oathstone in letters of white fire.
He took one step toward me.
The stone answered with a pulse.
His matching band flared beneath his glove, and he grabbed his wrist as the crowd screamed, "What did she bind?"
Calian stared at the glowing letters, then at me. His voice broke into something raw and dangerous.
"Lia, what the hell did you just—"