Chapter 23 · The Relay Is Listening

"Take your hand off the door, Evelyn." Kade caught her wrist before her fingers touched the latch.

His grip was firm, warm, and impossible to ignore. The relay chamber shook around them. Loose cables slapped against the walls. Red warning lights blinked over the sealed exit.

Evelyn twisted hard. "Let go."

"No."

"You don't get to say no when the Crown is sealing the market behind us."

"I do when opening that door gets you killed."

She drove her elbow back. Kade turned with it, taking the hit against his ribs instead of his throat. His other hand caught her shoulder and pressed her against the metal panel.

The relay pulsed under her spine.

Pain flashed through her chest.

Kade's jaw tightened. He felt it too.

"You're hurting me," she snapped.

"You're trying to run into a Crown kill zone."

"I have the route coordinates. Mira got them out. If I don't move now, the civilians in the market lose their only way through."

"And if you move now, the Crown gets the coordinates straight from your bond."

Evelyn stilled.

The thin black lines under her skin lit once, faint and blue, then faded.