Chapter 28 · The Verdict with His Name

"Don't let go!" Dax's hand slipped from mine as the ninth gate dragged him over the altar's broken edge.

I caught his wrist with both hands. His skin was burning cold, and black lines crawled from the wound beneath his ribs, wrapping around his arm like live wire.

"Mara, let go of me." His boots scraped against the stone. "Now."

"You first."

The pull below us jerked hard enough to wrench my shoulder. Dax slammed into the lip of the gate, teeth clenched. Ash poured from the open chamber and stung my eyes.

Behind him, the nine lamps flashed.

Every light carried a voice.

My name came from the dark in a hundred different tones. Old men. Children. Women sobbing. Guards shouting orders. Lovers whispering promises they had never finished keeping.

"Mara Venn," they called. "Mara Venn. Mara Venn."

Dax's fingers tightened around mine. "It's using the city."

"I noticed."

"The vows are awake."

"Then tell them to go back to sleep."

His mouth pulled into something that wasn't quite a smile. "You always did give terrible orders."

The gate yanked him down another inch.

I dropped to my knees and hooked one boot against a cracked altar stone.