Kael stood in the vault doorway and blinked at the empty spot where the ledger had been. His face went flat fast, like a punch to the gut. He shut the heavy door with a sound that made wood shiver.
Someone moved behind him. A guard. The guard's hand hovered over his sword. No one spoke the obvious thing out loud. No one had to.
"Where is it?" Kael asked.
He sounded small. That made Lyria mad in a hot, sharp way. She had crossed a river, stolen a book, brought it to the Council, and now it was gone. Every second that passed made the theft worse.
Mira pushed forward. "You saw it with your own hands," she said. "We had a chain. Who had access?"
The scribe who had been with Kael earlier stepped up. He was pale. His thumb left a smear of ink on his sleeve. "I signed off the transfer," he said. "I recorded the ledger moved into the inner vault. Then I came back with the key. The lock was fine. The ledger was there when I left the table."
