Chapter 23 · The Ash Ledger - Chapter 23: The First Entry

The mark was eating him alive.

Rowan hit the floor before he felt his knees give out. The black band around his wrist pulsed hot, then cold, then something worse—like his skin was being peeled off from the inside. He couldn't get air in. The countdown in his vision flickered: fifty-seven minutes.

Mara was already moving. She grabbed his shoulder, flipped him onto his back. "Stay with me."

"Not really—up to me—" He coughed. Tasted copper.

The Ledger's voice filled the room again, flat and patient. "Clarification: Rowan Vale will experience accelerated degradation until the harvest quota is met. Six hundred eligible units remain in the lower wards. Mara Quill may authorize retrieval. Cael Quill will be released upon confirmation."

"Shut up," Mara snapped at the air. She looked down at Rowan, and he saw it—the same look she'd had on the wall when the first shell hit. Calculating. Weighing.

"Don't," he said.

"Don't what?"

"Don't do the math. I see you doing it."

She let go of his shoulder. Sat back on her heels. "The math's already done. Six hundred people I don't know, or one person I do. And you."

"Wow. Thanks for the 'and you' part."

"Rowan—