Chapter 14 · Ghost of the Crown

"Cut the tether, Lyra!" Cassian shouted over the screaming metal. "Now, or it cooks your brain!"

"I know what it does!" Lyra snapped. Her fingers locked around the command rail as the ship lurched hard to starboard. "Stop yelling like you're the only one dying!"

A white-hot cable stretched from the black well ahead of them to the brass crown fixed behind her skull. It ran through the open observation hatch, across the command deck, and into the collar at the base of her neck. Every pulse sent a sharp flash through her teeth.

She tasted blood.

Cassian crossed the deck in three strides and caught her by the waist before the next jolt threw her into the controls. His coat scraped against her shoulder. His hand was hot through the fabric, steady and brutally strong.

"You can feel the light," he said. "So feel where the tether ends."

"Get your hand off me."

"When you stop trying to fall into a star."

"I'm not falling. I'm being dragged."

"Same problem."

He hauled her backward. The cable snapped tight.