Chapter 20 · I wouldn't dare

"I wouldn't dare."

The door's silver lock cracked.

Lyra grabbed my hand. Her fingers laced through mine before she seemed to realize what she had done. She didn't let go.

"We use the sluice," she said.

"Use it for what?"

"To open the lower channel. It will flood the passage with soul-force."

"And us?"

"If we stay linked, it won't tear us apart."

"You said every wound is shared."

"It is."

"So if this goes wrong—"

"We both pay."

The lock broke.

A blade punched through the gap.

Lyra pulled me toward the central pit. "Choose now. Run with me, or let them take us one at a time."

"You always make the easy choices sound terrible."

"Kaelen."

I looked at her hand around mine. Small. Warm. Steady now, even with blood on her sleeve.

"Open it," I said.

She smiled without any softness. "Try to keep up."

Lyra drove her free hand into the main seal.

The chamber exploded with white light.

Pain ripped through me.