Chapter 53 · The Man Who Chose the Crown

"Don't touch the red line."

Kade's hand closed around Evelyn's wrist before her fingers reached the control strip.

His grip was hard enough to stop her, not hard enough to break skin. That was the problem with Kade. He always knew exactly how much force to use.

"Let go," she said.

"You don't know what it does."

"I know what it does to you."

The core chamber shook around them. Metal screamed somewhere above the sealed room, and a blue crack split across the glass wall. Beyond it, the rift churned like a second city being dragged through a grinder.

Kade pulled her away from the console. His shoulder hit the wall. Evelyn went with him, trapped between his body and the sparking panel.

His breath brushed her cheek. Hot. Uneven.

"You burn the core," he said, "the two rifts lock together. Everyone inside this district gets crushed between them."

"And if I don't?"

His jaw tightened. "You already know."

"Say it."

"The Crown gets the core back. They use it to open the second door."

"And you?"

Kade looked at the red line beneath her hand. "I die."

Evelyn stared at him. "That's not the part you're scared of."