Chapter 29 · Voidbound - Chapter 29: Purge Night

"They're coming through the east gate." Mira's voice cut through the dark, low and tight.

Kael pressed his back against the cold stone wall, the archive door twenty feet ahead, locked, glowing with Guild wards he couldn't touch. His ribs screamed where the Voidling had fed an hour ago. Blood still tacky under his shirt.

"How many?"

"Six. Maybe eight." She didn't look at him. Her eyes stayed on the corridor entrance, her gun already out, barrel angled down. "Full purge squad. They're not here to ask questions."

"Great." He sucked air through his teeth. "And you're still standing next to me because?"

She turned then. Fast. Her jaw was set, but something else flickered behind her eyes—something he'd never seen in an inspector before. Fear, maybe. Or the edge of a choice she'd just made and couldn't unmake.

"Because that file in there has my family name on it," she said. "And if they torch this place before I see it, I'll never know what they did."

Kael felt the Voidling stir inside his chest, a cold ripple under his sternum. It wanted out. It always did when danger got close.

"Then we move now," he said.