Chapter 33 · Whispers of the Abyss

"Don't let go of me!" Sylvia shouted, though she couldn't hear her own voice.

Cassian's hand clamped around her wrist. His grip was hot, hard, and impossible to ignore. His mouth moved inches from hers, but the world had already vanished. No gunfire. No boots. No screams. Just a thick, crushing silence and a white blur where the street should have been.

Then something struck her shoulder.

She stumbled into him. His arm caught her around the waist before she hit the stones, dragging her against his chest. His coat scraped her cheek. Heat soaked through the fabric, steady and sharp, like the second heartbeat beneath her own.

His lips formed two words.

Stay close.

"I am close," she snapped. "You keep throwing me into walls."

He couldn't hear her. He only tightened his arm.

A blade flashed through the space where her throat had been.

Sylvia ducked on instinct. Cassian twisted with her, using her body as a guide and his own as a shield. The attacker passed them in a blur. Sylvia caught the soldier's sleeve, hooked her foot behind his knee, and drove her elbow into his ribs.

The man dropped.

She saw his mouth open.