I cut again. Deeper.
"Who."
"Coin!" The word tears out of him. "Coin. They approached me six months ago. Offered—offered to clear my family's debt if I—"
"What did you give them."
Blood is dripping onto the stone. The sound of it hitting the drain is steady. Regular. Almost musical.
"Schedules. Guard rotations. Who comes and goes."
"What else."
"Nothing, I swear, just—"
The thread pulses dark. Lie.
"Taren." I grab his jaw. Force his head back. Put the knife against his throat. "I'm going to ask you one more time. What else."
His eyes slide sideways.
Toward the door.
Toward her.
Everything stops.
The room. The noise. The thread-sight static. All of it—gone. Just my heartbeat slamming in my ears and her breathing near the door and his eyes on her, his fucking eyes on her—
"Say it." My voice comes out wrong. Too quiet. Too calm. The calm before I do something that can't be undone.
"They asked—" His voice cracks. "They asked if anyone new had come into Discord territory. Anyone important. I told them—"
"When."
"Last night." He's shaking now. "They sent a runner last night asking about the Solyne girl and I—I told them she was here. I told them which wing. I told them—"
Last night. While I was counting her breaths, this piece of shit was selling her location to Coin.
The knife moves.
I don't decide. My hand just—does. Opens his throat to the windpipe. Not quite severing. Not quite killing. Just holding there. Waiting.
His blood is hot on my fingers.
They know. Coin knows where she sleeps. They've known since last night.
I could pull the blade across right now. End it. But that's too fast. That's mercy. He sold her location for fucking gold and mercy is not what I have left to give.
"What did they offer you."
"Forty gold." He's crying openly now. Blood and tears and snot. "Just forty gold. My daughter needed medicine and I couldn't—"
"Your daughter."
He nods. Desperate. Hopeful.
Hopeful. That's funny. He's looking at me with hope. He told Coin where she sleeps and he's looking at me with hope.
