Chapter 7 · Voidbound - Chapter 7: Rook's Dirty Badge

"Don't move." The muzzle touched the back of my skull before I could straighten up from Rook's body.

I froze. Blood still dripped from my knuckles. The crowd noise had cut off like someone flipped a switch.

"Hands where I can see them," the voice said. Female. Cold. The kind of cold that came with a license to kill.

I raised both hands slowly. The Guild badge in Rook's palm gleamed under the Pit lights, slick with his blood.

"Turn around."

I turned. She stood three feet back, gun steady, her other hand already on her radio. Inspector's coat, dark hair pulled tight, eyes like she'd seen this exact scene a hundred times and pulled the trigger every time.

Mira Vance. I'd seen her face on wanted posters in the lower tunnels. The Guild's best hunter. The woman who put down the last illegal Pactmaker in under six minutes.

"Kael Thorne," she said. Not a question.

"Depends who's asking."

"The person deciding whether you die here or in a cell." She keyed her radio. "Vance. I have the target. Sublevel three, Pit arena. Voidling bonded, hostile, armed—"

"I'm not armed," I said.

"You summoned it.