Borrowed Voice · Chapter 10

The Master-Word

Cassien speaks the master-word. The voice returns to Ilan's throat. The cost is immediate: Cassien never speaks again, and the entire forbidden tongue is written into his back where only Ilan can read it. Ilan's first spoken words are a registry line claiming a silenced knight as his dependent. He reads one line of the script and refuses the rest, then lies to the imperial court about what it said.