The knife trembled in Hale's hand, and for a long moment nobody in the warehouse moved. Tamsin stayed still by the back door, her blade lowered but ready. Mercer kept his hands open, his eyes fixed on Hale's face, watching the war playing out behind them.
"You don't mean that," Hale said finally. "Nobody forgives what I've done."
"I didn't say forgive. I said help." Mercer took another careful step closer. "There's a difference, and it's the only difference that matters right now."
"What kind of help exists for a man in my position?"
"The council still has to hear this properly. What you did, why you did it, what you're willing to say about the people you paid off and the ones you threatened into silence." Mercer kept his voice even, steady, the way he'd learned to speak across a negot
