Chapter 16 · They Fight for the Core

"You don't get to take that." Mira's voice cut across the square before Carson's hand even reached the pedestal.

The upgrade screen hung in the air between them, pulsing with options neither of them could read without me. Carson stopped mid-step. His fingers hovered six inches from the core interface.

"I'm not asking," he said.

"Good." Mira moved forward, boots loud on stone. "Because the answer's no."

I stood there with the crown lock still warm in my pocket and my wrist aching where I'd stripped the control ring off ten minutes ago. The square had gone quiet. Guards on one side, lower ward people on the other, and me in the middle with a system screen only I could see.

Carson turned. His eyes found mine. "Tell her."

"Tell her what?" I said. "That you're planning to take the core and run? That you've got coordinates to the old palace and a blade that remembers who bled on it last?"

Someone in the crowd sucked in a breath. Carson's jaw tightened.

"I'm planning," he said, each word deliberate, "to keep this city alive."

"By taking the one thing keeping the walls up?" Mira's hand rested on her belt.