Chapter 21 · The City Dies Twice

"Move and I open your throat." Kira's blade pressed cold against Vex's neck. The pit around them shuddered, stone grinding against stone. Bodies flickered in and out like bad projections—gladiators dying, then standing, then dying again in the exact same way.

"Kira, listen—"

"You listen." She shoved him against the blood-slicked wall. "You sold me out to Halrik. Three loops ago. Don't think I forgot."

Vex's hands came up slow, palms out. "That was before I knew what you were."

"What I am is the woman about to gut you."

"The loop's breaking." His voice stayed level even with steel on his skin. "Look around. The city's eating itself. We don't move now, we're stuck in here when it all comes down."

She didn't look. Couldn't afford to. The pit floor kept splitting open and sealing shut, the same cracks forming in the same pattern every forty seconds. A fighter to her left took a spear through the chest, collapsed, then snapped back to standing and took it again. And again.

"Why the hell should I trust you?"

"Because I'm the only one who knows the way out of this sector." Vex's eyes flicked past her shoulder.