Chapter 7 · Blood on Her Name

The hand wearing Tavin’s ring grabbed the ledger and vanished under the cracked floor.

Nessa lunged after it.

Dorian caught her around the waist. ‘Don’t.’

‘Let go of me!’ She drove an elbow into his ribs. He grunted, but his grip held. Behind them, the vault doors slammed shut hard enough to shake dust from the ceiling.

The stolen ledger disappeared into the black split in the stone. For one stupid second, Nessa saw the ring again. Tavin’s ring. A silver band with a crooked notch on the side, the one he’d worn since he was sixteen.

Then the floor snapped closed.

‘That was him,’ she said.

Dorian’s breathing scraped against her ear. ‘You don’t know that.’

‘It had his ring.’

‘A ring can be copied.’

‘So can a voice, right?’ She twisted out of his arms and shoved him back. ‘Is that your next lie?’

His face had gone pale. Not scared. Not exactly.