Chapter 32 · Trade Before Midnight

"You're not walking into that hall."

Kael's hand closes around my wrist before I make it to the elevator. The heir mark on his throat is black now, crawling down past his collarbone like spilled ink. He's burning up. I can feel the fever through his palm.

"Let go."

"Nora."

"I said let go." I twist, but he doesn't move. His grip tightens. "Milo's in there. Someone else is in there with him. You heard him."

"I heard him say don't use my blood." Kael's voice is rough, scraped raw. "That means the mark's already compromised. If you walk in and trigger the debt transfer, it won't just rewrite—it'll multiply. Every person in that room becomes collateral."

"Then what do you want me to do? Stand here while they bleed him out?"

"I want you to think." He pulls me back a step, away from the elevator doors. "Selene set this up. She knows you'll rush in. She's counting on it."

I yank my arm free. "You don't get to tell me what I'm counting on. That's my brother."

"And this is my mark." He presses his palm flat against his chest, over the black lines spreading down his ribs.