Chapter 34 · The Ash Ledger - Chapter 34: Ash Doesn't Keep Score

The mark on Mara's wrist lit up white.

Rowan watched it pulse, watched her face go blank the way his had when the thing first grabbed him. She didn't scream. Didn't shake it off. Just stood there with her arm out like she was reading a message only she could see.

"Mara."

She didn't answer.

The Ledger core was still smoking behind them, half its panels cracked open, but the system wasn't dead. It had just moved. Rowan could feel it, the same cold weight that used to sit behind his ribs, now pressing somewhere else. Somewhere close.

He stepped in front of her. "Mara, look at me."

Her eyes refocused. Barely.

"It's talking," she said. Her voice was flat. "It's saying I passed the trial. It's saying I earned command."

"You didn't earn anything. It's lying."

"It's offering me my brother."

Rowan's stomach dropped.

Mara's hand was shaking now, fingers curled like she was holding something fragile. "It says if I take the bond, it'll give me his location. Real-time. I can pull him out before they move him again."

"That's bait."

"I know."

"Then don't—"

"But what if it's real?"

Her voice cracked on the last word.