Chapter 22 · Inez Twists the Knife Again

Inez showed up at the exact wrong time.

Mara was halfway through the broken tunnel entrance, Ronan limp against her shoulder, when she heard the footsteps. Not enforcer boots. Heels. Clicking slow and careful over rubble.

She froze. Ronan's breathing rattled wet in his chest. The red glow under his skin hadn't faded. If anything it was worse now, crawling up his neck in thin branching lines like roots trying to break through.

"Mara." Inez's voice came from the dark ahead. Calm. Almost apologetic. "Put him down."

Mara tightened her grip on Ronan's arm. "Get out of the way."

"I can't do that."

Inez stepped into the thin slice of moonlight leaking through the collapsed ceiling. She looked like she always did. Pressed suit, hair tied back, face blank in that lawyer way that made you think she was on your side right up until she wasn't.

Except this time she had blood on her cuffs.

"Whose blood is that?" Mara's voice came out sharper than she meant.

Inez glanced down at her wrists like she'd forgotten. "Silas sent me to bring you back. Both of you. He said if I didn't—" She stopped. Her jaw tightened.