Chapter 57 · The Rift Starts Counting

"Take your hand off the relay, Evelyn, or I break it."

Kade’s fingers locked around my wrist before I could pull the copper pin free. His grip was hot, hard, and way too steady for a man standing under a screaming rift engine.

Behind him, the market shook.

Stalls tipped into each other. Glass burst from the upper walkways. Somewhere below, a child cried, and three people started shouting at once.

I twisted against Kade’s hold. "You’re going to break my hand? That’s your plan?"

"My plan is keeping you alive."

"Then get better plans."

His jaw tightened. The relay spat blue-white sparks across his coat. The light caught the thin scar beside his mouth and the black Crown mark burned into his throat.

The Crown’s mark.

The same Crown that had sealed my debt bond, locked my brother in a detention block, and sent half the city after us.

Kade leaned closer. His breath brushed my cheek, warm against the metal-cold air. "The signal is feeding on the bond. If you cut it wrong, every person trapped in this market gets pulled into the rift."

"I know what it does."

"No, you don’t.