Chapter 33 · One Last Reset

"Don't you fucking dare."

Mara's fingers dug into my wrist hard enough to leave marks. The red prompt was still burning between us, floating like a death warrant in smoke.

DIE AGAIN. UNKNOWN COST. UNKNOWN RESULT.

"Rowan, look at me."

I couldn't. Ella's pulse was thread-thin under my palm, her lips going blue at the edges. The sea wall groaned somewhere distant, stone cracking like bone. Crowe was laughing behind us, a low satisfied sound that made my teeth ache.

"You think you've won something?" Crowe's voice echoed off the stone arches of the core chamber. "You broke my bell. You kissed your captain. Very touching. The city still drowns in six minutes."

"Shut up," Mara said, but her grip on me loosened a fraction.

"Your sister's dying, Vale." Crowe took a step closer, boots clicking on wet stone. "The anchor's transferred. I own the reset now. You can die here watching her choke, or you can take that lovely red option and find out what happens when the system runs out of mercy."

I looked at the prompt. Then at Ella.