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"Keep moving," Julian rasped. "If I stop, you stop breathing."
His fingers clamped around my wrist before my knees gave out. The tunnel shook behind us. Dust punched from the ceiling, and somewhere in the dark, boots hit stone.
"You can barely stand."
"I can stand long enough to keep you alive. Move."
I yanked my arm free. "Don't order me around."
"Then drag me."
He stumbled, caught himself against the wall, and left a wet smear across the black stone. His right shoulder hung wrong beneath his torn jacket. Blood ran from the wound in thin lines, disappearing under the metal band locked around his neck.
The band flashed red.
53:08:41.
The numbers burned against his skin.
"That thing is counting down faster," I said.
"No kidding."
"You said we had fifty-three hours."
"We did. Before the collapse. Before you triggered the blood contract. Before half the city started hunting us. Pick one reason."
Another impact rolled through the tunnel. Behind us, men shouted.
"Seal the passage!"
"They found the lower route!"
Julian's jaw tightened. He shoved away from the wall and forced himself toward the blue light ahead.
I caught his elbow. "Who are they?"
"Celeste's clean-up crew."
"You work security for her."
"I used to."
"That's not an answer."
He stopped so fast I nearly crashed into his chest. His body heat reached me through both our clothes. His breath came rough against my cheek, carrying blood and smoke. He looked down at me, pale and furious.
"You want answers? Keep me alive until we reach the altar."
"And if I don't?"
"The lock dies with me. You stay trapped under Vale House until your lungs give out."
"You sound very sure."
"I built the damn security system."
The collar around his throat gave a sharp electronic chirp. The red numbers skipped.
53:07:12.
His hand went to the metal band.
"Don't touch it," I said.
"I know what it does."
"You also know how to remove it?"
His eyes cut toward mine. "If I could remove it, would I still be wearing it?"
That shut me up for half a second.
Then the tunnel wall behind us cracked.
Julian shoved me forward. A bullet tore through the dust where my head had been and sparked off the stone.
"Run!"
I ran.
The blue light ahead grew wider. It spilled across the floor in broken strips, catching the blood on Julian's boots and the knife still strapped to my palm. My lungs scraped. Every step pulled at the cut in my side, but I didn't slow down.
Julian did.
I turned. "Don't you dare."
"Mara—"
"I said move!"
"You're bleeding."
"So are you. Keep up."
He gave me a hard look, then pushed faster. His shoulder slammed into mine as the tunnel narrowed. The metal collar around his throat shrieked again.
53:04:58.
This time, blue lines lit beneath the red display.
A pulse ran from his neck down his chest.
He sucked in a breath and dropped to one knee.
I grabbed the back of his jacket before he hit the floor. "Julian!"
"Don't touch the lock."
"I wasn't planning to cuddle it."
"Mara."
His voice cracked on my name. That scared me more than the gunfire.
I hooked my arm under his and hauled him up. His shoulder pressed against my ribs. The muscles in his arm tensed against me, heavy and hot even while his skin turned cold.
"You're going to tear the wound open," he said.
"Good. Then you can complain louder."
"You always this charming?"
"Only with Knox men."
His mouth pulled tight. "You think I killed your family."
"I think your father did. I think you knew more than you told me."
"I didn't know anything."
"Convenient."
"You want me to lie? Fine. I helped him burn Vale House. I held your mother's hands down while Celeste cut her throat. Feel better now?"
I shoved him into the wall.
His head struck stone. His breath left him in a sharp grunt.
I pressed my blade beneath his jaw. The edge touched the warm skin just above the lock.
"Say that again."
His eyes dropped to the knife, then lifted back to mine. Even half-dead, he didn't look away.
"I said you want a monster, so you can stop asking why the truth doesn't fit."
"Don't talk around it."
"Then listen. My father vanished the night your family died. Celeste walked out of Vale House wearing white and called herself a saint. I spent ten years hunting the people who made that possible."
"You hunted them from inside her security team?"
"I got close."
"Close enough to guard her?"
"Close enough to learn she was afraid of the altar."
The gunfire came again. Three shots. Closer.
Julian caught my knife wrist. His palm closed over me, warm and firm. He turned the blade away from his throat but didn't push me off.
"We fight now, we both die here," he said. "You want revenge? Stay alive long enough to take it."
His thumb pressed once against the inside of my wrist. A warning. Or a plea.
I hated that I noticed the difference.
I pulled the knife back. "Get up."
"That sounded almost kind."
"Don't make me regret it."
"Too late."
We reached the tunnel mouth together.
The Vale altar stood in the center of the chamber, carved from pale stone and ringed with blue fire. Two key shards hovered above it, one silver and one black, both locked in Celeste Rook's hands.
She stood with her back to the altar, pistol hanging loose at her side. Her white coat was clean. Not one speck of dust touched it.
Her smile widened when she saw us.
"Mara, finally."
The runes beneath her feet flashed.
"I've been waiting for you to walk Julian straight to me."
Julian's grip tightened around my arm. His mouth came close to my ear.
"Both shards are in her hands. We can't get out."
"I can see that."
"No. You don't understand. The altar won't open without both shards."
"Then take them."
"From her?"
"You used to be her security chief. Distract her."
"She has a gun."
"So do I."
I lifted the pistol I had stolen from the guard in the upper passage. My hand shook from blood loss, but Celeste noticed the weapon and laughed.
"That won't fire," she said.
I pulled the trigger.
The gun clicked.
Celeste's smile sharpened. "I told you."
"You talk too much."
"And you still don't know what your mother left inside you."
Julian moved in front of me.
"Stop talking to her."
Celeste tilted her head. "Still protecting the Vale heir? That's adorable."
"Take one more step and find out how adorable I am."
"You can't even keep your pulse steady."
The collar screamed.
Julian's knees dipped. His hand caught the front of my coat instead of the wall. I grabbed his waist to keep him upright.
The chamber lights flared red.
A voice came from somewhere above us.
"HEARTBEAT INSTABILITY. CONTRACT FAILURE IN FIFTY-THREE HOURS."
Celeste's gaze moved to the collar.
Her fingers closed around the two shards. Silver light leaked between her knuckles.
"How did the heartbeat lock bind you?" she asked.
Julian's face hardened. "You already know."
"You don't have Vale blood."
"I have a contract."
"No." Her eyes shifted to me. "You have a key."
My skin prickled.
"What are you talking about?"
Celeste stepped toward the center of the altar. The runes climbed the stone behind her like blue veins.
"Your mother never told you why you and Julian had to come here together?"
I raised the dead pistol at her. "Say it."
"You always were impatient. That's why she kept you ignorant."
"Say it, or I'll put this gun through your hand."
"With an empty chamber?"
She flicked her wrist.
The pistol flew out of my grip and struck the far wall.
Julian pushed me behind him. His shoulder brushed my chest. His breathing shook, but he kept his feet.
"Celeste," he said, "you wanted us here. Why?"
"Because the altar won't answer to stolen blood."
"You stole the Vale crown."
"I earned it."
"You murdered everyone who could challenge you."
"Careful, Julian. Your father said the same thing before he begged."
Julian went still.
I felt it happen. His body locked. His fingers curled at his sides.
"What did you say?"
Celeste's smile faded just a little.
"You heard me."
"My father never begged."
"He did when he realized the lock was built around his son's heartbeat."
The collar flashed red again.
52:59:03.
Julian's gaze dropped to the altar. "You knew."
"I knew everything."
"You let me believe—"
"You believed what kept you obedient."
I stepped around him. "What did his father do?"
Julian caught my hand. "Not now."
"She knows something about my mother."
"She wants us angry."
"I'm already angry."
"Mara, listen to me."
"No. You listen. If that lock is a cage, why does it need my blood?"
His grip loosened.
Celeste answered for him.
"Because the cage has two doors. One opens with Vale blood. The other opens with a living Knox heartbeat."
My stomach dropped.
"And if one of us dies?"
"The door stays shut."
"For how long?"
"Until the lock finds a new host."
Julian's fingers tightened again. "Mara, don't let her touch you."
Celeste laughed softly. "Too late."
The blue runes beneath my boots ignited.
Pain snapped up my legs. I gasped and dropped to one knee. Julian grabbed my shoulders and pulled me against him.
His chest hit my back. His breath warmed my ear.
"Look at me," he said.
"Get off me."
"Look at me."
"I said—"
"If the altar marks you, we lose control of the contract. Do you understand?"
His hands held my shoulders, not hard enough to hurt, but hard enough that I couldn't twist away. The heat of him pressed through my coat. My pulse kicked beneath his fingers.
The runes answered.
A thin line of blue light crawled across my wrist.
"Julian," I whispered.
"I see it."
"Get it off."
"I can't."
"You're the security chief."
"Not for this."
Celeste raised both shards. "There. That's the part your mother didn't explain."
"Shut up," I snapped.
"She made Julian your anchor. His heartbeat keeps the tunnel open. Your blood tells it where to send you. Together, you're the only pair who can reach the core."
"Why bring us here?"
"Because I need the core opened."
"So you can take whatever's inside?"
"So I can finish what your mother started."
Julian shoved me aside and charged.
He made it three steps.
Celeste lifted one shard.
A blue blast struck his right shoulder.
The fabric burned away. His shoulder and ribs blackened under the flash. No blood came out. He hit the floor hard enough to crack stone.
"Julian!"
"Don't come closer," he forced out.
Celeste turned the shard between two fingers. "The lock won't let him die yet. It will keep him alive just long enough to make you choose."
I ran at her.
The altar threw me back.
My spine hit the floor. Pain burst behind my eyes.
Celeste crossed the chamber, slow and calm. She stopped over me and held the black shard near my face.
"Give me your hand."
"Go to hell."
"Give me your hand, and I'll release Julian."
"You don't release anything. You collect people until they stop fighting."
Her eyes went flat. "Your mother fought too. Look where that got her."
I drove my knee into her leg.
She staggered. I rolled away and grabbed my knife from the floor.
Celeste fired.
The shot struck the stone beside my head.
Julian pushed himself up with his left arm. "Mara, the exit!"
At the opposite end of the chamber, a narrow door had opened in the wall. White light spilled through it.
"You said it wouldn't open without the shards," I shouted.
"It won't. But the contract can force it."
"How?"
"My heartbeat. Your blood. We need to cross before the altar locks down."
"And Celeste?"
"Leave her."
Celeste aimed at Julian. "He won't make it ten feet."
"Then I'll drag him."
"You can't carry him and outrun my people."
Boots thundered through the tunnel behind us.
Julian looked at me. His face was pale, sweat shining at his temple. "Mara, if you take me, you accept the rest of the contract."
"What rest?"
"The lock won't stay on me."
"Explain."
"It can move."
"Move where?"
His silence hit harder than the gunshot.
I grabbed his collar and pulled him close. "Where?"
"To the Vale blood source."
"That's me."
"Yes."
"How long?"
"Until the countdown ends."
"And then?"
"You don't want to know."
"Try me."
His eyes held mine. His breath touched my lips, rough and hot. For one stupid second, the chamber disappeared. There was only his hand at my waist, my fist twisted in his collar, and the hard beat under the metal at his throat.
"If it moves to you," he said, "you become the door."
I shoved him toward the exit. "Then keep your heart beating."
He caught himself, almost fell, and gave a breathless laugh.
"That your version of trust?"
"It's a threat."
"I'll take it."
I locked my fist around his collar and dragged.
His weight slammed into me. His boots scraped the floor. The burned side of his body hung useless, and his head dropped against my shoulder.
"Stay awake," I said.
"I'm awake."
"Say something."
"You smell like smoke."
"Try again."
"You look terrible."
"Better."
Behind us, Celeste shouted, "Fire!"
Gunshots erupted.
Bullets sparked against the tunnel walls. Stone shards cut my cheek. Julian twisted and covered me with his body, taking the impact of a round against his already ruined shoulder.
He made a sound through his teeth.
"Julian!"
"Keep pulling."
"You're hit."
"Keep. Pulling."
I dragged him harder.
The exit was three steps away.
Two.
His whole body went limp in my grip.
"No. No, don't you dare." I hooked both hands into his collar and hauled him forward. His head dropped lower. His boots stopped moving.
The collar's red display flashed.
52:58:10.
Then the warning changed.
"HEARTBEAT LOCK FAILURE."
A long alarm screamed through the chamber.
The exit door began to close.
I threw myself forward and dragged Julian across the threshold. My fingers scraped over the white stone. The tunnel sealed behind us with a heavy crack.
The gunfire stopped.
For one second, I thought we'd made it.
Then my neck burned.
I clawed at my throat and felt metal snap into place beneath my fingers. Blue light crawled under my skin.
A new display appeared in front of my eyes.
48:37:19.
Julian lay at my feet, silent and still.
Deep inside the tunnel, the Vale altar went dark.
Every rune died at once.
But Celeste was still standing in the black.
Her pistol rose toward the sealed door.
Her voice came through the stone, soft enough to make my blood turn cold.
"Mara—"