Chapter 17 · Take My Place

Kael was dying in front of her, and Rin had one reset left.

She could see it happening. The edges of him blurred like ink in water. His fingers were still wrapped around the blade he'd shoved into her hand, but they were losing color, going gray at the knuckles. The ritual circle carved into the stone under the execution platform pulsed with a sick, greasy light, and every beat pulled more of him into whatever hole Varric had opened.

"Sacrifice," Varric's voice drifted down from above, smooth as oil. "Take your place."

Rin's hand was slick with blood. Hers or Kael's, she didn't know anymore. The files they'd dragged out from under the platform were scattered across the stone, pages fluttering in a wind that shouldn't exist underground. Proof. Names. Dates. Everything her mother had died trying to protect.

And none of it mattered if Kael faded before she could think.

"Rin." His voice cracked. He was on his knees now, one hand braced against the stone, the other still touching hers. "Don't."

She didn't answer. Couldn't. Her throat had locked up the second she'd seen the countdown tattoo crawling across his collarbone, black and eating inward.