Chapter 4

"Shut up and move!" She yanks me off the wall. Her hand is freezing, but my wrist is burning where the bond mark is lit up like a brand.

We run.

Our boots slap through puddles, the alleyway too narrow, too loud. Faces crowd every window above us. A scream rips through the air.

"It's them! The forbidden mage and the Inquisitor!"

"Great," I pant. "We're famous. You happy now?"

"They posted us both," she snaps. She doesn't even look back. "That bounty is for both of us. Julian put my face right next to yours."

"Yeah, I noticed. Real romantic. You gonna cry about it or fight?"

She shoves me hard as we round the corner. "Don't talk to me about Julian. You don't know anything."

"I know his seal was on that knife," I hiss. "I know he tried to kill you too. That's not nothing, Viviane."

Two more drop from the roof. Black masks. Same knives. Same seal.

Viviane doesn't hesitate. Her sword sings as it clears the scabbard.

"Back to back," she barks.

"Bossy as ever," I mutter, but I move. My back hits hers. She's solid. Even through the heavy coat, I can feel her heat—a sharp contrast to those ice-cold hands from a second ago.

"Don't die," she whispers.

"Same to you, princess. Remember? You die, I reset. I die, you reset. So try not to suck."

The first assassin lunges.

Viviane meets him blade to blade. Sparks fly. The clang rattles my teeth. I catch the second guy's wrist before his knife finds her ribs.

"Hey," I grin. "Wrong target."

I twist. He screams. The knife clatters across the cobbles and I kick it away before he can blink.

"Silas, left!"

I duck. Her sword whistles over my head, burying itself in the third guy's shoulder. He howls, hitting the ground hard.

We're both breathing too fast. The bond mark on my wrist is pulsing, syncing with hers. Every time she winces, I feel it. Like a hot wire under my skin.

"You feel that?"

"Yes," she hisses. "Stop talking about it."

"You know what it means, right? We can't get more than twenty feet apart. Try running away now."

"I am not running away!"

She spins, and suddenly we're chest to chest. Her breath hits my face—short, angry, hot. Her eyes are wide, pissed off, and way too close.

"I'm trying to keep us alive."

"Then stay close." My voice drops. I can't help it. "You hate that, don't you?"

Her cheeks flush pink. "I hate you."

"Liar."

I turn just as a brute with a short axe swings for my neck. I throw up my arm. Forbidden script flares on my palm—black-red light that shatters the axe on impact.

The backlash hits me like a truck. And because of the bond, it hits her too.

Viviane gasps, doubling over. "What did you do!"

"Sorry! Shared pain, remember? My bad!" I grab her elbow to keep her upright. Her skin is damp with sweat. "You okay?"

"Don't ever do that again without warning me!" She shoves my hand off, but her fingers linger for a heartbeat. Just long enough to feel how bad I'm shaking.

"Noted," I say. "Next time I'll send a letter."

The big guy isn't done. He tackles me, slamming me into the stone. My head bounces. I taste blood.

"Silas!"

She actually screams my name. The guy has his hands around my throat, squeezing. My vision goes spotty. Then I hear the sword move. A gurgle. The weight vanishes.

Viviane is over me, sword dripping, chest heaving. She hauls me up by my coat, her face inches from mine.

"Don't you dare die on me," she snaps. "Do you hear me? Don't you dare."

"Worried about me, Inquisitor?" I cough, blood splattering my lip.

"I will kill you myself if you reset us again." Her hand is on my chest, pressing hard, checking my heart. Her palm is burning through my shirt.

"You keep touching me like that and people will talk," I whisper.

She jerks her hand back like I shocked her. "Shut up."

Bells. Whistles. The city guard is boxing us in.

"We gotta go," I say. "Follow me."

I grab her hand. The bond mark flares. The screaming in our heads—the noise from the pact—goes silent the moment we touch. "Trust me for five seconds."

"I don't trust you at all," she says, but she laces her fingers through mine. Tight.

We sprint. Hand in hand like some messed-up lovers' escape. The alley opens into the market square—pure chaos. Guards pushing through. People screaming.

A crossbow bolt whistles past. Then another.

One hits.

It catches me low in the side. I grunt. It feels like someone shoved a hot poker into my gut.

Viviane stumbles, a sharp cry punching out of her. She clutches her own side, eyes wide with a pain that isn't hers.

"Silas!"

Blood is soaking my shirt too fast. My legs go wobbly.

"I'm fine," I lie. "Keep going."

"You're not fine! You're bleeding out!" She drags me behind a fruit stall, knocking apples everywhere. She presses both hands to the wound, her fingers shaking. "Why did you— you stepped in front of me!"

"Did I?" I try to grin. My mouth is full of copper. "Huh. Guess I did."

"Why would you do that!" Her voice cracks. Her forehead is almost touching mine. I can feel her breath, panicked and fast, on my lips. "You idiot! You stupid, reckless—"

I catch her wrist, squeezing even though my hand is slick with blood.

"Hey," I whisper. "You owe me one now."

She stares at me. Her lips part. Her eyes are wet—furious and wet.

"Don't you dare smile at me when you're dying," she hisses. "Don't you dare."

"Then save me, Inquisitor. Use that fancy healing—"

"I can't! Not with the bond like this! It'll—"

Another bolt splinters the wood next to us. I'm getting cold. The ground is tilting.

And then the bells start.

Not the guard whistles. The Holy See bells. All of them. At once.

Viviane goes white.

"No," she breathes. "No, it's too early. The loop shouldn't—"

One. Two. Three. Each toll vibrates through my teeth, through the bond, through the blood on the cobbles.

"Silas, look at me!" She grabs my face. Her palms are bloody and desperate. "Stay with me. Don't reset. Don't you—"

White light bleeds in from the edges. That sick, familiar glow. We're going back. An hour. I haven't even bled out yet.

"It's resetting early," I choke out. "Why is it resetting early?"

"I don't know!" She's shaking me now, her sword forgotten on the ground. She holds me like if she grips tight enough, I won't disappear.

"What did we do? What did you do?"

The fourth toll hits. The light swallows the market, swallows her bloody hands, swallows the look on her face—

"Silas, don't let go—"