Chapter 33 · The Ash Ledger - Chapter 33: Don't Press It For Me

The vote hung in the air like a blade.

Rowan stared at the projection. Two options. Burn him. Wipe the city. The Ledger didn't care which. It just needed fuel.

Mara stood three feet away, her hand still on her sidearm. Her face was pale. "Rowan."

"Don't." He didn't look at her. Couldn't. If he did, he'd see what she was about to say.

"There's a third option." Her voice was flat. Controlled. The kind of control that came right before someone did something stupid.

"No." He turned. Met her eyes. "There isn't."

"I take it." She stepped forward. The mark on her wrist—the one that mirrored his—pulsed once. Faint red light bled through her sleeve. "I plug in instead. You walk."

Rowan's chest tightened. "That's not how it works."

"It tagged me too." Mara pulled her sleeve back. The mark was darker now. Angrier. "I've been feeding it kills same as you. It doesn't care whose head it burns. Long as someone pays."

She wasn't wrong. The Ledger had hooked them both. Two bearers. Two fuel sources.