Chapter 20 · Take My Name

"Kael Thorne." Rhys's voice dropped into command cadence, flat and cold. "Step forward. Disarm. Surrender to custody."

Kael's spine locked. Her eyes went wide, pupils blown black. The command mark on her neck flared hot enough Cyrus could see it glow through the dirt.

She stepped forward.

"Kael." He moved in front of her. "Don't."

Her hand came up and shoved him aside. Not hard. Just enough. Her face was blank, eyes tracking Rhys like he'd hooked a line through her chest.

The transmitter in his hand pulsed green. Military-grade sync device. Cyrus had seen it twice before, both times in field hospitals when they needed to pull a war-bound soldier off a berserk spiral. It didn't shut the ink down. It just made the command chain louder than everything else.

"Step forward," Rhys said. "Disarm."

Kael walked. Her fingers went to the knife on her belt, pulled it free, dropped it. Steel hit gravel too loud. She didn't blink.

Cyrus's heart was trying to climb out his throat. He looked at the convoy. Lien pressed against the truck, hand white-knuckled on a younger kid's shoulder. The rest frozen, staring.

If Kael went, the convoy died.