Blood darkened the floorboards of the abandoned carriage.
Not enough to prove death.
Enough to make Evelyn reach for the door before the investigator finished speaking.
“I am going with you,” Marcus said.
She turned.
“You are not involving Blackcoast.”
“I said I was going. I said nothing about my territory.”
The distinction held.
Barely.
Evelyn’s shoulder remained bound beneath her uniform, and Marcus’s leg still objected to steep ground, but neither injury had kept them inside the palace while Nora’s family remained missing.
Evelyn studied him for one breath.
Then she nodded.
“As an observer.”
“Of course.”
They rode beyond the western gate with Jeremy and six Vesper scouts. Marcus wore no Blackcoast insignia. His men remained inside Greyhaven.
The carriage stood beside the
