44. Astra #2
“Walkin will put one of us in front of you and ask for a result you want,” he said. “By the time they ask you to hurt someone, they’ll try to make it feel necessary.”
Kieran’s hand covered his line. I did not look away.
“They know I’ll do almost anything to keep you alive,” I said.
“That could almost make a man feel important.”
His attempt at a smile failed. “Either I end up in their hands or make it harder for us to get out. I don’t care for either role.”
“Then don’t take the role they’ve given you,” Delphine said. “Testify. You know what your Mark was before Astra repaired it. You kept the measurements they tried to take from you. Make them explain why saving you requires severing her from you now.”
Kieran’s fingers rested on the ribbon around his folio.
The record inside held three years of his body failing by increments, each change written down after the healers stopped offering answers.
The Tower had wanted it badly enough to confiscate it.
Now it had been returned sealed, as though ownership could be granted by the same hand that denied access.
“They won’t let me bring this into east review,” he said.
Hard knocks struck the door.
The steward outside said something too low for us to hear. A second voice answered, louder.
“Restricted material is to be surrendered before transfer.”
Kieran closed his arm over the folio.
“On whose order?” Caspian called.
“Council Enforcer Walkin.”
Boots approached from the western junction. The administrator’s voice reached us through the stone.
“Walkin’s direct authority begins at first bell. The folio is an entered exhibit in an active consultation under my seal.”
“The advance order requires Marsh to arrive without restricted records.”
“Then you may collect it when the transfer begins.”
Silence held beyond the door. The wax across the jamb remained unbroken.
At last, the second set of boots retreated.
Kieran looked down at the black ribbon. “They’ll take it when they take me.”
“The hearing list names it,” Caspian said. “If they remove it at transfer, we put that in the record.”
A faint vibration passed through the table as water changed course somewhere inside the wall. The warning bell had not rung.
“What happens to Sadie if we leave?” I asked.
No one answered.
The annex proved that someone had taken her from Wing C under seal and removed the name of whoever received her.
It did not prove she was still alive. It did not tell us where to search.
Leaving the Tower might put the record in freer hands.
Staying might place us close enough to force one more door open.
Neither choice brought Sadie into the room.
“If Walkin takes command,” Hale said, “we may lose the route before the hearing begins.”
“And if we run tonight, we abandon any chance of finding where she was taken inside the mountain,” I said.
Hale did not pretend otherwise. The answer hurt, but I had asked him not to soften it.
Caspian’s thumb moved once across my palm. “There isn’t a choice here that keeps everyone safe.”
He was right. Leaving could cost us Sadie. Staying could put one of the men in Walkin’s hands. We had promised not to hide those costs from one another.
“I need to know what each of you wants,” I said.
Caspian held my gaze. “I want us gone tonight. The filing is already outside the Tower, and Walkin built this proceeding around using the three of us to control you. I don’t want to wait here and offer them the chance.”
“We may never find Sadie if we go.”
“I know.” His hand remained open beneath mine. “You asked what I choose. I’m not choosing for you.”
Hale looked toward the sealed door. “I think we stay for the hearing, but only until Walkin prevents testimony or moves against one of us. Then we take the route while it still exists.”
Delphine laid her hand beside the exhibit list. “I stay to testify.”
Kieran exhaled through his nose. “Caspian may be right. I still want my record opened in front of Walkin. If they mean to use me to frighten you, I would rather be present for the attempt.”
“You don’t have to stay just because you think I need protecting.”
“I know.” Kieran shifted the folio beneath his arm. “I’m staying because I want my life entered into the record before Walkin tries to turn it into leverage.”
The warning bell sounded below us.
The steward outside shifted his weight. The blue wax along the door remained whole.
Caspian released my hand so I could choose whether to reach for him again. I placed my palm flat on the table instead. Feeling had begun to return in bright, painful threads.
“I need until first bell,” I said.
“Then take the hour,” Hale said.
None of them tried to tell me what answer they expected.
The administrator broke the seal from outside. Cold corridor air entered around her, carrying the sound of locks being tested farther east.
We left one at a time under the steward’s eye. Delphine went first, her Mark uncovered. Kieran followed with the black-ribboned folio beneath his arm. Hale paused at the threshold long enough to look back at the room, fixing its doors and distances in memory. Caspian waited beside me.
At the corridor junction, stewards waited beside the administrator’s blue seals with black wax ready in their hands.
I reached for all three bonds. They answered around my pulse. The fear remained.
We had one hour left.