"You should have taken the chance to walk away quietly."
Sabra pushed against Belka's grip with steady strength.
"I tried walking away once. Ishtar found me in Melen, paid the men who owned my debt, and gave me enough power to make certain nobody could ever buy me again. You see a cage because guilt finally made you sentimental. I see the only roof that kept me alive."
That was the first honest thing Sabra had said all evening.
Belka loosened her grip slightly, though the knife remained trapped.
"Then help us build something that does not require owning everyone weaker than you."
"You are asking me to betray the woman who saved my life for people who would have stepped over my body in the street."
"I am asking you to stop charging strangers for a rescue you received years ago."
Sabra drove her forehead into Belka's face.
Pain burst across Belka's nose, and the knife tore free.
Tessa caught Sabra's arm before the second strike landed, sending all three women crashing into the ledger shelves as books spilled around them.
The main-house collection bell rang twice overhead, each slow chime carrying through the archive and announcing an emergency transfer.
Fresh writing burned across the enchanted sorting board.
[ALL BLACK LEDGERS TO THE PRIVATE VAULT.]
A second order appeared beneath it.
[CALA AND MIREL—PERSONAL CUSTODY OF PHRYNE JAMIL.]
Tessa stared at the board until Sabra's knife slipped from her hand and struck the floor.
"They have my daughters."
Sabra wiped blood from her mouth.
"Phryne knew somebody had accessed their contracts, so she took the most obvious leverage and waited for the traitor to reveal herself. If you rush upstairs now, you will confirm everything and give her a reason to start hurting them."
Tessa lunged across the room, but Belka caught her around the waist before she could drive Sabra's head into the stone wall.
"Let me go! I would rather die inside that house than stand here while Phryne decides which daughter screams first!"
"If you charge in alone, you will die before reaching either of them, and Phryne will still have both girls. Give me five minutes to contact Rayleigh, and I will get you through a door she does not know exists."
"You don't have five minutes."
Phryne's voice came from the stairwell.
Her body blocked the only exit, while one enormous hand held Cala by the back of her dress.
The girl was conscious, gagged, and kicking weakly against the air.
Mirel stood behind Phryne with an Amazon's blade pressed beneath her chin.
Tessa stopped breathing.
Phryne watched her with the patient hunger of an animal that had already decided which part to bite first.
"I moved one ledger and borrowed two daughters, and three frightened clerks nearly killed each other before I entered the room. Yōtōsai chose poorly if this is the rebellion he expects to hide inside my house."
Her attention settled on Belka's bare Zanpakutō.
"Call its name.... I want to see whether the sword breaks before the mother does."
...
Phryne's presence swallowed the archive.
Cala hung from one hand by the back of her torn dress, while Mirel stood behind her with a blade pressed close enough to draw a thin line of blood beneath her jaw.
Tessa had gone completely still.
Belka had seen women freeze like that before, usually when fear became too large for the body to decide whether running or fighting would hurt less.
"Put them down, Phryne. You wanted the person copying the ledger rotations, and you found her. My daughters had no part in this, so let them leave and deal with me!"
Tessa's voice cracked on the last word.
Phryne studied her for several seconds before answering.
"They have everything to do with it. You spent twenty years explaining to other mothers that signed paper mattered more than blood, yet now you expect me to treat motherhood as sacred because the names belong to you."
Cala twisted hard enough to tear the shoulder of her dress.
Phryne tightened her grip.
A muffled cry escaped through the gag.
Tessa surged forward, and Belka barely managed to hold her back.
"Stop fighting me! Cala's left arm is broken, and every time you rush her, Phryne tightens her grip around the shoulder!"
Tessa froze.
The injured arm hung at the wrong angle beneath the torn sleeve.
Phryne's expression brightened when she realized they had noticed.
"She fell while trying to run. I told her that kind of rudeness makes people careless, but children rarely appreciate a useful lesson until something snaps."
"If you touch her again, I swear I will tear your heart out with my hands!"
"You have threatened me four times since I entered, yet your daughters remain exactly where I placed them. That should tell you how much your anger is worth."
The words nearly broke Tessa's restraint.
Belka forced her attention away from Cala and examined what Phryne had brought into the room.
One exit.
Two hostages.
Sabra near the sorting board.
The Amazon holding Mirel carried a hooked sword and wore the colors of Phryne's private guard.
'Rayleigh asked me to find paper-carriers, not solve hostage situations against a Level Five. It would have been nice if he had mentioned that part.'
The Zanpakutō remained warm in Belka's hand.
Its pressure had grown heavier since Cala screamed, almost as if the blade could feel the names written in the ledgers around them.
Phryne noticed.
"You carried that weapon back into my house because you wanted someone to see what Yōtōsai found inside you. Call its name, Belka, and prove you were worth the trouble he spent on you!"
Belka kept the sword lowered.
"You did not drag two girls into an archive because you wanted to admire a Zanpakutō. You are frightened of what it might do, and you want me to explain it before you decide whether to steal it or break it."
Phryne's mouth opened in a broad grin, revealing gums stained dark near the teeth.
"I want it to surprise me. If it fails, I will pull your arms off and deliver whatever remains of your soul back to the smith. Perhaps he will make something better after learning from the mistake."
Sabra stared at her.
The threat had not been aimed only at Belka.
Every woman in the room understood that Phryne viewed a Zanpakutō wielder as a container that could be emptied and replaced!
'Good. Keep talking, you disgusting bitch. Every sentence is doing more work for me than the map did.'
Belka angled the blade toward the scattered ledgers.
"You moved the records early because you knew someone had copied the schedule, but you left the archive open and brought the hostages here yourself. You are not stopping a rebellion. You are trying to identify how many women are involved before Ishtar discovers that you lost control of her own house."
Phryne's grin disappeared.
Her fingers tightened around Cala's dress.
"Lady Ishtar gave me permission to correct a discipline problem."
"She told you to frighten me after Rayleigh refused her. You decided that gave you the right to settle every grudge you have collected against the paper-carriers."
Belka pointed toward the enchanted order still glowing on the sorting board.
"If Ishtar had approved this transfer, her seal would be beside yours. She is not here because she does not know you moved contract records, broke a captain's daughter, and turned the archive into your private interrogation room."
Sabra's attention snapped toward the order.
Ishtar's seal was absent.
Tessa saw it too.
"You did this without our goddess knowing?"
Phryne barely acknowledged the question.
"Lady Ishtar wants Yōtōsai kneeling before her. She does not waste time checking which servant moves which book or which frightened girl has to suffer before he understands the price of refusing her."
"My daughters are not servants you can move whenever you please!"
"They became movable the moment they signed."
Tessa lunged so violently that Belka lost her grip.
Sabra caught her before she reached Phryne, locking both arms around her chest while Cala cried through the gag.
"Let me go, Sabra!"
"If you reach her, Cala dies before your second step! Stop giving Phryne exactly what she wants!"
The answer came out hard and furious.
Sabra had chosen a side before realizing she had done it.
Phryne noticed immediately.