Chapter 8 · Mira Voss, Traitor

Mira had Kade shoved against the iron rail before he could get a second breath.

Her forearm pressed across his chest. Her blade sat under his jaw, cold enough that he felt every little shake in his pulse.

Below them, Judgment Tower dropped into blackness.

Not a normal basement. Not even close.

The shaft under the tower was wide enough to swallow a city block, lined with old ward-stones and metal bridges that looked like they’d been bolted on by people who didn’t expect anyone to come back up.

Kade kept both hands where she could see them.

“Easy,” he said.

“Don’t tell me easy.” Mira’s voice was low. Too low. “You said your mother’s coordinates led under the tower. You didn’t say they led to a restricted drop shaft with three active kill-runes.”

“I didn’t know about the kill-runes.”

“That’s somehow worse.”

A blue symbol flashed on the wall beside them.

Kade’s chest burned in answer.

The black rune under his ribs had been awake since the alley fight. It hadn’t gone back to sleep.