Chapter 61 · The Homecoming Trap

"Put the gun down, Evelyn." Kade's voice came through the control room speakers, rough and too close to her ear. "If you fire, you don't just kill me. You kill everyone under this building."

Evelyn kept the pistol aimed at his chest. Her finger rested beside the trigger, not on it. That was the only thing stopping the room from becoming a bloodbath.

Kade stood on the far side of the launch chamber, one hand clamped over the glowing seam beneath his ribs. Black-gold light leaked between his fingers. Each pulse made the console behind Evelyn flash red.

He was hurt. Badly.

He was also the only person who could reach the launch controls.

"You always say that when you want me to hesitate," she said.

"And you always point a weapon at me when you already know I'm right."

"Don't flatter yourself. I point weapons at people who betray me."

His jaw tightened. "The Crown betrayed you. Your foster father sold your routes. I pulled you out of both traps."

"You dragged me into this one."

"I dragged you away from a rift collapse."

"Same difference."

A violent shudder ran through the floor.