Chapter 29 · Midnight Eats the City

"Don't you fucking let go."

Mara's hand locked around mine, knuckles white, blood running down her arm where Crowe's bolt tore through. The clock tower bell tolled midnight, and the sound didn't stop. It kept ringing, each chime louder, deeper, like the whole city was cracking open from the inside.

"I'm not," I said. My other hand pressed against the wound, trying to keep her upright. "I'm not letting go."

"Liar." Her eyes fixed on mine, fever-bright. "You let her go before."

I felt the words punch through my ribs.

"Mara—"

"Eira." She coughed, red flecking her lips. "You let her walk into his tower. You knew she was going and you didn't stop her."

The bell kept tolling. Twelve. Thirteen. Fourteen.

"That was different," I said, but my voice cracked. "I didn't know—"

"You knew." Mara's grip tightened. "You just thought you'd have another loop to fix it."

I couldn't answer that. The square around us was emptying, people stumbling back like the sound itself was shoving them. The gallows behind us groaned, wood splintering. I looked up and saw the noose unwinding, rope threading backward through the iron ring, coiling up like a snake eating its own tail.