Chapter 14 · The Blood Between Us

"Drop the blade, Voss!" The guard captain's voice cracked across the foundry as six crossbows rose over the broken rail.

Mara's knife stayed at Riven's throat.

His hand locked around hers before she could turn it. His palm was hot. Too hot. The black lines under his skin had started crawling again, spreading from his wrist toward his jaw.

"Tell them to lower those," Mara said.

"You first."

"I am not the one surrounded by armed idiots."

Riven stepped in front of her, dragging her with him because their wrists were still linked by the thin black mark of his curse. His shoulder blocked half the crossbows. The other half aimed straight at Mara's chest.

The captain shoved through the smoke. His coat carried the silver seal of the Night Court. Behind him, ash-walkers climbed over the foundry wall, their skin split with glowing gray cracks. One dragged a melted chain behind it. Another had no eyes, only two smoking hollows.

"Mara Voss," the captain called. "By order of Officer Edric Vale, you are to be taken alive. The enforcer can be killed if he resists."

Riven's fingers tightened around Mara's.

"There," Mara said. "He heard that part."

"Shut up."