Chapter 12 · The Crown Rejects Her

"Don't move." Dorian's hand locked around my wrist before I could reach for the memory shard.

The shard lay three feet away, glowing under the broken archive table. His other hand pressed against the hole in his coat where the spear had punched through him. Blood ran between his fingers.

"You're bleeding through the floor," I snapped.

"And you're walking toward the only proof that can clear your name. So I think we're both having a bad night."

"Let go of me."

His grip tightened. Heat spread from his palm into my skin, sharp and wrong through the oath bond. The shard flashed again. Calder's recorded face twisted across its surface, his voice cutting through the ruined archive.

The heir list. The original names. Calder's hand scraping mine away and writing another bloodline over it.

Then the spear had struck Dorian.

The image stuttered before it showed the rest.

"We need to get that to the Crown Gate," Dorian said. His voice had gone rough, but his eyes stayed on me. "The tribunal is broadcasting from there. If the shard plays in front of the Crown witnesses, Calder can't bury it."

"You're not making it to the gate.