Page 115 of Zenith Tower

The ledger was harder.

Juno had shown me a ledger older than Zenith Hall, filled with names the school preferred to treat as myth. The Tower kept its own records of residents it had erased by procedure. Aldric might mean either of them, or a third record none of us had seen.

I needed Caspian.

His bond sharpened before I reached the door, wakefulness turning suddenly alert. I opened it to find him already stepping into the corridor, coat pulled over an unlaced shirt.

“What happened?” he asked.

I held up the cloth. “We have another message.”

He looked toward the western turn before following me back inside.

“From the dock?”

“From Aldric. A reader brought it.”

That stopped him.

“A Tower reader?”

“Aldric helped her sister escape Council custody. She was repaying the debt.”

Caspian took the cloth and moved closer to the lamp. He read the stitches without touching them, then turned the fabric over.

“Did she give you a name?”

“No. She wouldn’t name the route either.”

“Good. At least she understands the risk.”

“She was frightened, Caspian.”

“I believe you.” He lifted his eyes to mine. “Fear doesn’t prove who put the message in her hand.”

I folded my arms. “Aldric said I would understand where he stood.”

“Do you?”

“At the formal, beside Juno. He challenged Quill when Quill invoked Article Seven.”

Caspian read the line once more.

“That memory belongs to half the people who were in the hall.”

“You think it’s a trap.”

“I think someone inside the Council wants us to act before its representative arrives. Aldric may be that someone. So may Marrow.”

I wanted to argue. I couldn’t.

I sat on the edge of the bed. “The reader said Aldric is in outer records review.”

“It fits what the courier told me. The Hall is building evidence for a hearing, and Juno expects the Council to send someone with more authority than Marrow.”

“Then the ledger may be their evidence.”

“Or ours. Or Juno’s old one.” Caspian lowered the cloth. “We don’t choose until we know.”