Chapter 15 · Belly of the Deep

"Stop pulling me, Lira!" Jace slammed both hands into the pulsing wall and dug his fingers into the wet black flesh. "If you tear that door open, the whole city comes down on us!"

"Then quit standing there and make it obey!" Lira shouted back.

The wall flexed around her boots. A strip of pale muscle had wrapped around her ankle and was climbing fast, squeezing hard enough to crack the leather. She hacked at it with her broken anchor blade, but each cut only made the thing tighten.

Jace lunged.

His hand closed around her wrist before the next fold of flesh could swallow her. Heat flashed through his palm. Her skin was cold. Too cold. Her breath hitched as he dragged her toward him, and her shoulder struck his chest hard enough to knock the air out of both of them.

"Let go," she snapped.

"Not happening."

"You say that like you get a vote."

"I do when the floor is eating you."

Another contraction rolled through the passage. The city groaned around them.