Chapter 30 · The Blood File

"Don't touch that door, Dorian. It's bait."

He already had his hand against the iron seal.

The lower archive shook around us. Dust dropped from the ceiling in thin gray lines, and somewhere above, boots hammered across the stone. The crown's soldiers had found the old stairwell. We had minutes, maybe less.

Dorian glanced at me over his shoulder. His jaw was tight. Blood ran from the corner of his mouth where the oath had split his lip.

"You said the original blood file was behind this door."

"I said Calder's copy was behind it. The original might be gone."

"Mara."

That one word carried the same warning he used when he had me in chains three years ago.

I stepped closer, keeping my knife raised between us. "Don't use that voice on me. You don't get to drag me through half the city, lock an oath around my throat, and then act like I'm the reckless one."

"The warrant has your name on it."

"The warrant has Calder's handwriting on it. There's a difference."

His eyes dropped to my mouth for half a second. His fingers pressed harder into the seal.

"Move back," he said.

"No."

"Mara.