Chapter 8 · The Second Heart Beneath the Tower

The front doors of Galloglass Station burst inward.

Mara's barricade—two parcel cages, a steel counter, and a delivery cart loaded with sourglass batteries—collapsed beneath the first impact. Splinters skittered across the tiled floor. Cold air poured through the gap, carrying the stink of rain, hot metal, and the black-armored soldiers flooding the entrance.

Mara Finch lifted a hand cannon from beneath the counter. The weapon was older than the station and twice as temperamental. She thumbed back the hammer.

'If anyone damages my sorting belts,' she called, 'I am charging the council for repairs.'

A bolt of blue force struck the counter. Mara ducked. The cannon roared, and the front rank of soldiers staggered as a cloud of copper needles tore through their visors.

'Left tunnel!' she shouted.

Lio Wren had one arm locked around Cael Rook's waist. His weight dragged at her shoulder, but she refused to let him fall. The silverglass blade had left a narrow wound beneath his ribs, and every breath made his face tighten. Mara had packed the injury with ash-salt and stitched the skin closed, yet the flesh around it remained gray and dead.

'You are not walking,' Lio told him.

'I am standing.'