Chapter 28 · The Healer Doesn't Take Surrenders

"You can't destroy that sample." The physician's hand clamped around my wrist before I got the vial to the flame.

I didn't look at him. Just kept my arm steady, the glass tube catching the lamplight. Inside, the black spore culture pulsed like a tiny heartbeat.

"Watch me," I said.

"The emperor needs proof. Evidence of the conspiracy—"

"The emperor's part of it." I twisted free and stepped back. The lab was empty except for us, but I could hear boots in the corridor. Heavy. Multiple sets. "You want proof? Tell him to check his own vault. This thing didn't crawl out of a swamp."

The physician's face went white. He was young, maybe thirty, with ink-stained fingers and the kind of exhausted eyes I'd seen on every overworked resident. Not evil. Just scared.

"If you burn that," he said quietly, "we have nothing to show the people. They'll say the plague was natural. That the cure was always coming."

"Good." I held the vial over the burner. The flame licked at the glass. "Let them lie. I'm not giving anyone a weapon."

"Grace—"

"Get out."

He left. Smart guy.

I waited until his footsteps faded, then checked the door.