Chapter 4

The creature below slammed into the underside of the platform.

Seraphina turned on him. "You almost took my head off."

"But I didn't."

"That isn't the standard."

"It should be."

She crossed the distance in two strides and grabbed him by the throat of his coat. Her face was flushed from the fight. A thin cut marked her lower lip.

Raven's fingers closed around her wrist before he thought better of it.

Her pulse struck against his palm.

For one second, the battle noise fell away.

Her gaze dropped to his hand.

His grip loosened, but he didn't let go.

"Take your hand off me," she said.

"You take yours off me first."

"I was stopping you from doing something stupid."

"You were stopping me from breathing."

"You were breathing."

"Barely."

"You talk too much for someone who needs air."

Her thumb rested against the fabric near his collarbone. He could feel the pressure of it through his coat.

"You going to kill me now?" he asked.

"I'm considering it."

"While staring at my mouth?"

Her eyes snapped up.

The color in her cheeks deepened, angry and fast.

"I was looking for signs of poison."

"In my mouth?"

"You want me to cut your tongue out?"

"You keep making promises."

The corner of her mouth twitched. Not a smile. Almost one.

Then the platform split from end to end.

Seraphina lost her balance.

Raven caught her around the waist and dragged her toward him as the stone dropped away beneath their feet. Her armor slammed against his chest. Her hand seized his shoulder, fingers digging through his coat.

The rift opened between them and the balcony.

Red light poured up.

A wall of black ash struck Raven first.

The system screamed inside his head.

PRIMORDIAL SOURCE DETECTED.

SIPHON LIMIT EXCEEDED.

Raven's knees hit the stone.

Seraphina dropped with him, still locked against his body. Her cheek pressed near his jaw. Her breath came hot and quick.

"What is happening?" she demanded.

"The thing below is waking up."

"Can you stop it?"

"Maybe."

"That isn't an answer."

"It's the one you get."

"Raven, if you know something—"

"I need to touch the rift."

She pulled back enough to see his face. "No."

"Then it opens."

"You don't know that."

"I know the ash is calling me."

"And you want to answer?"

"I want to live."

"Those aren't the same thing."

The platform tilted. Seraphina's hand slid from his shoulder to the back of his neck. Her fingers caught in his hair as she kept herself from falling.

Raven's hand stayed at her waist.

He could feel each breath she took. He could feel the hard edge of her armor pressing into his ribs. She was close enough to strike him, close enough to save him, close enough that one wrong move would turn both choices into the same thing.

"Let go," she said.

"You first."

"I'm not asking."

"Neither am I."

Her eyes locked on his.

The collar around his throat pulsed once.

The rift answered.

A blade of black stone shot through the crack and slammed into the platform beside Raven's head. Seraphina reacted instantly, ripping her sword free and bringing it down between them.

Holy steel struck black stone.

The impact threw sparks into Raven's face.

The creature's limb recoiled.

Seraphina held the broadsword with both hands, forcing the thing back. Her boots slid toward the opening.

"Help me!" she shouted.

"You told me not to touch the rift."

"I changed my mind!"

"You do that often?"

"Raven!"

He shoved his palm onto the cracked stone.

Ash slammed into him.

For an instant, every wound on the platform opened in his senses. The dead guard. The broken priests. The blood-soaked runes. The old fire buried under the city.

All of it had a taste.

All of it wanted in.

The system filled his vision.

ASH RESONANCE: 41%

ABILITY UNLOCKED: ASH DRAW

WARNING: SOURCE WILL RECOGNIZE HOST

Raven clenched his teeth. "No."

Seraphina looked over her shoulder. "No what?"

"The source is awake."

"Can you control it?"

"Not yet."

"Then control it now!"

"That's not how this works."

"Make it how it works!"

The black limb surged against her sword.

Seraphina cried out as the force drove her down to one knee.

Raven grabbed the flat of her blade.

Holy fire burned through his palm. The ash inside him seized the sword's glow and pulled.

The creature shrieked.

The rift narrowed by an inch.

Seraphina stared at his hand on her weapon. "You can siphon from my sword?"

"Apparently."

"Stop."

"If I stop, it eats us."

"That's my sword."

"And this is my life."

"You don't get to take from me."

"You don't get to execute me."

"You are still condemned."

"Then condemn me after we survive."

She pushed back against the limb. Her shoulder pressed into his chest as they fought over the same blade, the same inch of broken stone.

"You think you can order me around?" she said.

"You're the one who told me to control it."

"I told you to help."

"Same thing when you're desperate."

Her gaze cut toward him.

"I'm not desperate."

"Your hand is bleeding."

"It's yours."

"Your sword is shaking."

"It's fighting something stronger than you."

"You really know how to make a woman feel valued."

The words slipped out before either of them could stop them.

Seraphina's mouth parted.

Raven felt her body go still against his.

Then the rift exploded beneath them.

The force hurled Seraphina backward. Raven grabbed for her and caught her around the waist again, but the stone under his boots gave way.

They dropped together toward the red darkness.

Seraphina's sword spun from her hand.

"Raven!"

He caught the railing with one hand. With the other, he held her against him.

The collar around his throat burned white.

A chain of runes flashed across Seraphina's wrist.

Her eyes widened. "What did you do?"

"I didn't do that."

"The collar—"

"I know."

"Raven, let me go."

"No."

"If you hold me, we both fall."

"Then stop kicking."

"I'm trying to reach my sword."

"Your sword is gone."

"Without it, we die."

"With it, we die faster."

The railing bent under his grip.

Below them, the rift opened wide enough to show a massive red eye staring up through the ash.

Raven's fingers slipped.

Seraphina grabbed his wrist with both hands.

Their faces were inches apart again, suspended over the abyss. Her breath shook now. He felt it against his mouth.

"Listen to me," she said. "If you fall, I fall."

"I noticed."

"No. Look at the runes."

He looked.

The chain of light had wrapped around both their arms. It wasn't binding them to the platform.

It was binding them to each other.

Seraphina saw it in the same moment.

"What is that?" she whispered.

"A tether."

"Break it."

"I don't know how."

"Then find out."

The red eye below blinked.

The rift pulled.

Seraphina's hands slid another inch toward his fingers.

"Raven," she said, her voice suddenly low, "if you have one more trick, now would be a very good time."

He looked into the abyss, then back at the woman holding him like she hated him too much to let him die.

The system offered one final line.

BIND WITH NEAREST LIVING SOUL?

YES.

NO.

Raven's thumb hovered over the burning word.

Seraphina's grip slipped.

"Choose," she said. "Choose now, or we—"