Page 179 of The Fifth Heir

“That is not a meaningful legal distinction.”

“It was meaningful to the ventilation grate.”

The wall runes turned gold.

Leander did not look at them.

“Did you disturb anything else?” he asked.

“I removed the return note from the ledger.”

“You stole evidence.”

“I relocated it.”

“To the Fifth Wing.”

“A secure location.”

“This is not a secure location. Five people live here, and one of them is you.”

I leaned against the table.

“I feel unfairly characterized.”

“You should,” Torren said. “The description was generous.”

Talia flattened the note beneath her hands.

“The delivery signature was smeared?”

“Yes.”

“Enchanted ink doesn’t smear.”

“Not accidentally.”

Sebastian turned the channel beneath the lamp. “Someone received eight correctly marked outward sections, returned them unused, and installed unmarked inward pieces.”

Torren’s expression hardened. “To direct our power at Talia.”

“Yes.”

“Who had access?”

“Runemasters, delivery staff, Trial officials, anyone inside the Hall during setup.”

“Malcolm,” Talia said.

No one answered immediately.

Leander looked at her. “His seal authorized the release. That doesn’t establish that he handled the delivery.”

“It establishes that he knew which pieces were ordered.”

“So did the North Council,” he said.

The words cost him.