"Tell me who opened the rift, or I let it finish eating you." Seraphina's runed broadsword pressed harder against Raven's throat.
Stone scraped his cheek. Heat rolled up from the crack beneath the execution platform, hot enough to blister the skin on his hands. The iron collar around his neck clicked with every breath, its red runes pulsing like a second heartbeat.
Raven smiled against the blade.
"You always question prisoners with a sword, Commander?"
"Only the ones who kill execution crews, steal forbidden ash, and crawl out of a breach that should have turned them into smoke."
"So you do remember me."
Her gray eyes narrowed. They were too close now. Close enough for him to feel the warmth of her breath against his jaw. Close enough to see the thin cut beneath her left ear, half-hidden by the silver clasp of her armor.
He filed that away.
Seraphina leaned down, putting more of her weight behind the sword. Her black-and-gold cloak dragged through the ash scattered across the platform.
"You were condemned three hours ago," she said. "The High Prelate signed the order himself. Your name was carved into the death ledger. You were supposed to be dead before sunset."
"And yet here I am. Bad day for your paperwork."
"You think this is funny?"
"No. I think you're nervous."
The blade nicked his skin. A hot line of blood slid beneath the collar.
"Careful," she said. "I can make nervous look like screaming."
"You could have killed me already."
"I still might."
"Then stop talking and do it."
For one sharp second, her sword stopped moving.
There it was. Not fear. Not pity. A hesitation she hated herself for showing.
Raven twisted his wrist beneath her knee and caught the edge of her gauntlet. The metal was warm from the breach. He yanked hard.
Seraphina lost her balance.
The sword tore away from his throat. Raven rolled, drove his shoulder into her ribs, and sent them both across the cracked platform. Her elbow smashed into his collarbone. He answered with a knee to her hip.
"Get off me," she snapped.
"Ask nicely."
She slammed the pommel of her sword into his temple.
White sparks burst across his vision. His grip loosened. Seraphina ripped free and came up on one knee, blade raised.
Raven pushed himself upright. Blood ran from his brow into his eye. The collar burned against his skin, reacting to the ash crawling beneath his fingers.
A black prompt flashed across the edge of his vision.
ASH RESERVE: 17% SOUL-SIPHON: UNSTABLE COLLAR OVERRIDE: LOCKED
He blinked it away.
Seraphina noticed.
"What did you just see?"
"Your face. It needs work."
"Don't lie to me."
"Then stop asking questions you can't afford answered."
She sprang forward.
Raven ducked under the first cut. The sword split the stone where his head had been. He hooked his foot behind her ankle and shoved. She stumbled, but she recovered fast, turning with the motion and driving her shoulder into his chest.
His back hit one of the platform's support pillars.
The impact knocked the air out of him. Seraphina trapped his right wrist above his head and jammed her forearm beneath his chin. The runes on her armor glowed against his coat.
"You ran from the block," she said. "You attacked my knights. You crossed into the breach after I ordered you to stay down. Why?"
Raven's lungs fought for room. Her arm was solid iron. Her body was pressed close enough that the hard edge of her breastplate dug into his ribs, and her loose braid brushed his cheek every time she moved.
He could smell ash, steel, and the faint cedar oil worked into her gloves.
"Because your order was stupid."
"Why was it stupid?"
"Because the rift wasn't pulling me in."
Her grip tightened.
"Explain."
"It was pulling the ash out of me."
"You are an ash-siphoner."
"That accusation sounds better when you say it like a prayer."
"The order says you consumed a forbidden spark."
"The order also says I murdered the men who betrayed me. Did you bring the bodies?"
"I brought witnesses."
"Paid witnesses."
Her eyes flashed.
"You don't get to accuse the Church while standing in a breach you caused."
"I didn't cause it. Your people did."
"Which people?"
"That's what you want, isn't it? A name you can drag back to the cathedral. Someone convenient. Someone low enough to hang while the people above him wash their hands."
She pressed him harder against the pillar.
"Give me one name, Raven. Just one. If it checks out, I take you off the execution list."
He laughed, rough and breathless.
"You don't have that authority."
"I have the authority to keep your head attached to your body until I get an answer. That's enough."
"No, it isn't."
"You sure?"
She drew a narrow dagger from the back of her belt and held it beneath his ribs.
The blade didn't break skin. It didn't need to.
"The collar around your neck is keyed to my command seal," she said. "If I close my hand, it locks your muscles. If I speak the kill word, it burns through your spine. You have maybe ten seconds before your heart stops."
Raven glanced at the dagger.
"You rehearsed that speech?"
"I've used it before."
"On how many people?"
"Enough to know you're not special."
"That must hurt."
Her jaw flexed.
"Say the name."
"No."
The command seal on her wrist flared.
Pain struck Raven's legs. His knees buckled, but he refused to drop. His fingers clawed into the stone behind him.
Seraphina watched his face, waiting for him to beg.
He gave her a crooked grin instead.
"That all you've got?"
"I can increase it."
"Go ahead."
"You're bluffing."
"You're the one holding the dagger. Why are you asking?"
Something moved behind her eyes.
A weakness. Not in her body. In the command.
She was afraid of what the collar would do if she pushed too hard.
Raven felt the ash under his skin stir. The forbidden spark had been feeding him since the breach opened. It was crude, violent, and starving. But it could taste magic now.
The collar was magic.
So was her seal.
He lifted his free hand slowly.
Seraphina caught it before his fingers reached her wrist.
"Don't."
"Don't what?"
"Touch the seal."
"Why?"
"Because I said so."
"That isn't an answer."
"It's the only one you're getting."
She pinned his hand beside his head. Her glove tightened around his wrist. Her thumb rested over his pulse.
Raven felt her count the beats.
One.
Two.
Three.
"You're scared," he murmured.
"I'm irritated."
"Your thumb says otherwise."
Her gaze dropped to his mouth for half a second.
Then it snapped back to his eyes.
"Try something clever and I'll break your wrist."
"You keep promising me things."
"You keep giving me reasons."
"Maybe I like hearing your voice."
The space between them went tight.
Seraphina's breath touched his cheek. Her fingers stayed around his wrist, firm but no longer crushing. That tiny change told him more than her threats did.
She wanted answers.
She needed him alive.
Raven drove his forehead into hers.
The impact made her curse. Her grip broke. He caught her command wrist and slammed it against the pillar.
The seal flashed.
Ash surged from his palm.
Seraphina's eyes widened.
"Raven, don't—"
Too late.
The black ash poured across her gauntlet, slipping through the grooves of the command seal. It didn't burn like ordinary fire. It crawled. It searched. It found the spell beneath the metal and wrapped around it.
A second prompt tore across his vision.
MAGIC SIGNATURE FOUND. COMMAND SEAL: SERAPHINA VALENTINE. WEAK LINK DETECTED. SIPHON AVAILABLE.
Raven tightened his grip.
Seraphina gasped and drove her knee into his stomach.
He folded, but he didn't let go.
"Get out of my head!"
"It's not your head. It's your leash."
"Release me!"
"You first."