Chapter 28 · The Ones Beneath

“Turn that crystal off.”

Riven caught Mara’s wrist before her fingers touched the broadcast crystal. His grip was hot, hard, and already shaking.

“Get off me.”

“You just put your voice across half the city.” He dragged her hand away from the silver device. “The Night Court heard you. The plague wardens heard you. Every bounty hunter with a working receiver heard you.”

“Good.” Mara twisted against him. “Maybe one of them will explain why your Court sealed Veycross and left thousands to rot.”

His jaw locked. The black mark circling his wrist pulsed once. Pain shot up Mara’s arm at the same time.

She bit down before the sound could escape.

Riven noticed anyway. His eyes dropped to her hand.

“Don’t,” she warned.

“You felt that.”

“I felt you squeezing too hard.”

“That wasn’t me.”

The floor bucked beneath them.

The crystal rolled across the old archive table. Its light snapped from blue to red, and the woman’s voice still trapped inside it broke apart into static.

Mara shoved Riven away and reached for her knife.

Something hit the underside of the floor.

Once.

Twice.

Then a gray hand punched through the rotten boards between their boots.

Mara jumped