Page 163 of Zenith Tower

When they separated, Delphine kept hold of Cosima’s sleeve. “Lior?”

“He’s waiting at the farmhouse,” Cosima said. “He wanted to come. We wouldn’t bring him this close to the Tower.”

Delphine closed her eyes. Her repaired hand trembled against Cosima’s arm.

“Take me to him.”

“We are.”

Cosima kept her hand around Delphine’s. “The dock courier warned us you might use the bridge route if Walkin moved against you. Juno arranged for someone to watch from first bell until midnight every day after that.”

“You waited all day?” I asked.

“Rev took the morning. I took the afternoon. The cart stayed in the trees.”

Mud had dried thick around the wheels, and the blankets beneath us held the cold of the long wait.

Delphine opened her coat and withdrew the folded hearing pages.

“The clerk gave me these when the doors opened.”

Cosima did not reach for them. “Are they complete?”

“Everything entered before the blackout. My statement. Kieran’s refusal. The administrator’s objections. Walkin’s order.”

“Keep them on you until we reach the house. We have dry paper, sealing wax, and two witnesses waiting there. We’ll make copies before anyone sleeps.”

For a while, the wheels and Kieran’s uneven breathing were the only sounds inside the canvas.

“Where are we going?” Hale asked.

“A farmhouse two hours north,” Cosima said. “It belongs to a family that supplied Zenith Hall before Quill replaced them. Rev’s grandmother has trusted them for years. The Council does not know they kept the old road open.”

“And after that?”

Cosima looked at the record in Delphine’s hands. “Aldric’s annex is already outside the Tower. Magnus sent copies of the full filing to two other Council seats before he left the mountain. Juno has statements from families who were told their children vanished during review. These pages connect those records to what Walkin did tonight.”

The names and papers crowded the dark beneath the canvas. We had escaped with proof, and already I could feel its weight passing from hand to hand.

“The administrator stayed behind,” I said.

Cosima’s expression tightened. “Was her objection entered?”

“More than one.”

“Then it will be harder for Walkin to remove her quietly once copies of the hearing leave the mountain.”

“Marrow stayed too.”

I gave them the shortest account I could: Marrow had fought us, I had touched his Mark without changing it, and he had let a squad pass without calling them into the corridor.

Hale’s gaze dropped to the blood on his knuckles. “He fought hard enough that they’ll believe we left him bound.”

Cosima looked from him to me. “We’ll record both parts when we reach the house.”

I leaned back against the wooden side of the cart. Outside, branches brushed the canvas and released cold drops that darkened the cloth. The road climbed, turned, and left the sound of the river behind.

Delphine had fallen asleep against Cosima’s shoulder with one hand still closed over the hearing pages. Kieran’sbreathing had steadied beneath Hale’s watch. Caspian’s thumb moved slowly over the silver line at my wrist.