“House Vale kept my sin and called it warning. Blood of my blood, confess the rest.”
Silas closed his eyes.
Sera looked at him. “The rest.”
Nyra smiled faintly. “Here comes the kinder knife.”
Valerius’s voice cut low. “Be silent.”
Sera looked at him then.
His face was carved from restraint, fury aimed but not released. The defense she had made still hung between them. He had not thanked her. Not yet. He seemed to understand that gratitude in front of others would make her words feel claimed.
Sera turned back to Silas.
He opened his eyes.
“The charm did not only measure the bond,” he said.
Sera went cold.
Silas’s voice remained steady, but only barely. “It created a map. Not of your mind, Sera. Of the bond’s fracture points. Maire used it to identify where the bond could be cut w
