Page 40 of The Fifth Heir

“I am capable of deciding when I’m tired.”

“You’re also capable of lying about it.”

Her gaze snapped to mine.

The runes turned orange again.

I expected her to deny it. Instead, she gathered several of the small metal tools and returned them to the first cabinet.

“You don’t know me well enough to call me a liar.”

“I watched you tell your sister you weren’t hurt after you struck your shoulder against the lamp.”

Her hand stopped.

The movement lasted less than a second, but it confirmed what I already knew.

“How did you see that?”

“I was in the Hall.”

“So were several hundred other people.”

“Most of them weren’t watching the keepers.”

“Why were you?”

“I watch exits, officials, and anyone handling ceremonial weapons or magical relics.”

“I wasn’t handling anything.”

“You were kneeling beside a lamp stand and cleaning a rune no one else appeared to know existed.”

“That happened before the ceremony.”

“Yes.”

She turned fully toward me. “You noticed me before the Prism did.”

I had.

Brown hair escaping its pins. Dust across a gray robe. A woman kneeling where everyone else stood, studying something the rest of the Hall had overlooked.

The realization appeared to bother both of us.

It should not have stayed with me as clearly as it had.

I straightened and moved around the desk. “Let me see your shoulder.”

“No.”

“Talia.”

“Torren.”

My name in her mouth stopped me for half a heartbeat.

“You hit iron hard enough to shake a lamp,” I said.