Chapter 10 · Sparkbound - Chapter 10: Live Wires

"Don't touch that door." Draven caught my wrist before my fingers reached the latch.

His grip was hot. Not warm. Hot enough to make my bond-mark flare under the leather tether.

I twisted hard. "Then move your hand."

"You want the children dead?"

That stopped me.

Behind the steel door, three small heartbeats thudded through the pipes. Too fast. Too uneven. The spark grid hummed around them, stealing power from every crystal in the chamber.

I stared at the latch. Red light crawled over it in thin, angry lines.

"You said they were alive," I whispered.

"They are."

"You also said the grid was damaged."

"It is."

"Those two things don't belong in the same sentence."

Draven stepped between me and the door. His coat dragged against my knees as he turned, blocking the panel with his body. His face had gone pale beneath the grime, but his eyes stayed sharp.

That was the problem with him. He could be bleeding through his shirt and still look like he was deciding where to bury me.

I yanked at the tether between our wrists. "Move."

"No."

"Draven."

"Wren."

He said my name like a warning.