Chapter 1

The edge kissed my skin.

"You always open with murder?" I managed to choke out.

"Only when the warrant says murder."

"That warrant has my name on it because someone paid for it," I spat.

His gray eyes didn't flicker. Cold. Flat. Not even a hint of regret.

"Council heir Dorian Vale was found dead in your apartment," he said. "Three witnesses saw you leave. Your rift mark was burned into his chest. You were caught holding the knife."

"And you believed all that?"

"Belief doesn't matter."

"Right. You just kill whoever the council points at. Good little dog."

His grip tightened. Pain flared in my wrists.

"Call me that again."

"Dog."

The blade pushed harder. A warm line of blood slid down my throat.

Kael leaned in. I could feel his breath against my cheek—hot, steady. He smelled like metal, leather, and the sharp, ozone smoke of a broken rift. His body blocked the alley exit. His knee held me locked. Every single advantage belonged to him.

I had one move left. Maybe.

"You want a confession?" I asked.

"I want the truth."

"Then take your hand off me and ask like a man."

"You're in no position to make demands."

"And you're in no position to pretend this is justice."

His jaw flexed. For half a second, his gaze dropped to my mouth.

I took the opening.

I drove my forehead straight into his nose.

Kael cursed, staggering back with a wet snap. I ripped one wrist free, ducked under his arm, and snatched my knife from the stones in one fluid motion.

Then the rift-hounds hit.

Three of them. They crawled out of a red tear in the air on too many legs, bodies made of wet black plates and twitching blue veins. One snapped at my shoulder. I rolled under it, slashing across its belly.

The blade sparked.

"You brought monsters to my execution?" I shouted.

Kael wiped blood from his nose. "They followed your rift trail."

"I wasn't the one who opened it!"

"Save it for the council."

The second hound lunged. Kael’s sword flashed, cutting it across the face before the teeth could reach me. The creature slammed into the wall, screeching like a radio losing signal.

The third one hit him from the side.

He went down fast, buried under a mess of claws and black armor.

I could've run. The alley opened toward the lower market. Three blocks to the transit tunnels. If I bolted now, Kael would chase me. If I stayed, the hound would tear him apart, and I’d still be the one blamed for his death.

"Damn it."

I grabbed the broken rift shard from my belt. It had gone dark two hours ago. My power had vanished the moment the council seal branded me a murderer. No pulse. No heat.

But the hound's blue veins were glowing.

I pressed the shard into the ground.

"Come on," I whispered. "Just once. Don't leave me now."

Kael's sword arm was trapped. The hound opened its jaws wide over his throat.

"Mara!" he barked. "If you have a trick, use it!"

"You said I was the killer."

"I can change my mind after you stop it!"

"That's not how warrants work."

The hound snapped down.

I slammed my palm onto the shard. Pain punched through my hand, white-hot and blinding. A thin red line cracked across the stones, running beneath the hound's feet, climbing its legs, and lighting every vein in its body at once.

The creature froze.

Kael stared at me. "What did you do?"

"Something you couldn't."

I closed my fingers. The red line pulled tight. The hound split apart in a burst of black ash and blue sparks. Its claws scraped the ground beside Kael's neck, then collapsed into dust.

Silence lasted less than a breath.

The remaining hound turned toward me.

My hand shook. The shard burned against my palm.

"Mara," Kael said, rising behind the dead creature. His voice had changed. Not softer. Sharper. "Drop the shard."

"Come take it."

The hound charged. I swung the shard like a club, striking its snout. The impact sent a shock through my shoulder, barely slowing the beast.

Kael caught the back of my coat and yanked me aside. The hound smashed into the wall where my head had been.

His chest hit my back. Hard. One arm locked around my waist to keep me from falling, while his other hand drove the sword deep into the creature's spine.

The hound thrashed. His forearm pressed against my ribs. I could feel the heavy, ragged pull of his breathing against my hair.

"Don't move," he said.

"You're holding me."

"Because you keep trying to die."

"You came here to make sure I did."

"That was before the hounds."

"An inspiring change of heart."

He shoved me behind him and twisted the sword. The hound screamed, spraying black fluid across the stones.

I raised my knife. "Stay back."

"You don't give orders."

"Then stop standing in front of me like a shield."

Kael glanced over his shoulder. His face was too close. A smear of black ash marked one cheek. His eyes dropped to the blood at my throat.

"You're bleeding."

"You cut me."

"I barely touched you."

"You want credit for that?"

The last hound lunged from behind him. I shoved Kael aside and drove my knife into the glowing seam beneath its jaw.

Claws tore through my left side. Heat ripped across my ribs.

I hit the ground on one knee. The hound landed over me, its mouth opening inches from my face.

Kael grabbed its head with both hands, snarling. "Look at me!"

He fought the beast, claws digging into his coat. A tear opened beneath his shoulder, red spreading across the black fabric.

I saw the weak point.

"Kael! Left side!"

"I know!"

"Then move!"

"Do it!"

I jammed the shard into the seam. The red crack flared. The hound burst apart over us, raining ash across my face and Kael's shoulders.

He dropped to one knee, hand braced on the ground. I stayed crouched beside him, breathing through the pain in my ribs.

His wound was in the same place as mine. A thin red mark cut through his coat.

I looked down at my side. The slash across my ribs had stopped bleeding.

Kael saw it too.

"What is that?" he asked.

"I don't know."

"Don't lie."

"You have a sword under my chin. Try asking nicer."

He rose and caught my arm before I could stand. His fingers closed around my elbow—firm, bordering on painful.

"Your power was stripped in the square," he said. "Everyone saw it."

"I remember."

"Then explain how you just killed two hounds."

"Maybe the city likes me better than the council does."

"Mara."

His thumb pressed against the inside of my elbow. My pulse jumped beneath it. His gaze followed the movement, and for one stupid second, neither of us spoke.

The alley felt smaller. I could smell the smoke on him. Feel the heat through his glove. His face was so close that if I leaned forward, our foreheads would touch.

I didn't lean. Neither did he.

Then a siren wailed at the far end of the street.

Kael released me and pointed his sword toward the market. "Patrols."

"I noticed."

"You have two choices."

"Let me guess. Die here or let you kill me somewhere cleaner."

"Run, and the patrols shoot you on sight. Stay, and I take you to the council chambers alive."

"You left out the third choice."

"There isn't one."

I kicked the dead hound's ash into his boots. "I make my own."

I turned toward the opposite wall. The brick was cracked from the rift's pressure. Behind it, I could hear the market crowd screaming. If I could force the crack open, I could reach the old station.

My power flickered in my palm. Not gone. Buried.

I pressed my hand to the wall.

Kael caught my wrist before I could trigger it. "What are you doing?"

"Leaving."

"No."

"You don't get to say no to me."

"I do when your escape collapses half the block."

"You think I care about the block?"

"I think you care about the people inside it."

The words hit harder than they should have.

He stepped closer, forcing my back against the cracked wall again. His sword stayed lowered, but his hand didn't leave my wrist.

"You pulled three civilians out of the Vale Tower before it fell," he said. "Then you went back for a fourth."

"Were you watching me?"

"I watched the security feed."

"Cute. You stalk all your targets?"

"Only the ones who don't behave like killers."

My throat tightened. I covered it with a smile.

"Careful, Mercer. That almost sounded like doubt."

"Don't flatter yourself."

"You came all the way down here alone. No squad. No council guards. You wanted the kill to be private. Why?"

His expression shut down. There it was. A secret tucked behind the eyes.

I pulled against his grip. He didn't let go.

"Answer me."

"You're still making demands."

"And you're still avoiding the question."

"The council ordered a quiet execution."

"Why quiet?"

"Because the city is angry."

"The city is angry because the council framed me."

"You don't know that."

"I know the knife found in Dorian's chest wasn't mine. I know my apartment was sealed from the inside. I know the rift mark on his body was council ink, not hunter ink."

Kael's gaze sharpened. "You saw the mark?"

"I was there."

"You said you didn't enter the room."

"I said I didn't kill him. Try keeping up."

He moved so fast I barely saw it. My wrist twisted behind my back. His body pinned mine to the wall. The sword slid under my chin again, and his mouth came near my ear.

"You were in the room," he said. "You touched the body."

"I tried to save him."

"The healers said he was dead for six minutes before you arrived."

"Then the healers were bought."

"Everyone is bought, according to you."

"You included?"

His breath brushed my ear. "I don't take money for orders."

"No. You take orders for free. That's worse."

His hand tightened behind my back. I smiled despite the pain. "You can kill me now, if you're so sure."

"Don't tempt me."

"You're the one who came close."

For the first time, his control slipped. His eyes caught mine over my shoulder. His pupils had widened. His breath came slower, heavier, right against my skin.

I hated that I noticed. I hated more that he noticed me noticing.

"You think this is a game?" he asked.

"No. I think you're scared."

"Of you?"

"Of being wrong."

The blade pressed against my throat.

"You have no idea what I'm scared of."

"Then tell me."

"You don't get the truth just because you ask."

"Funny. That's exactly what you told me."

A sharp crack sounded from the alley entrance.

Kael turned his head. I drove my heel into his knee.

He grunted. I ripped free, spun, and punched him in the mouth.

He caught my fist before the second strike. His fingers wrapped around mine, and he dragged me forward until our bodies nearly collided.

"You hit hard," he said.

"You talk too much."

"You flirt when you're cornered?"

"I threaten when I'm bored."

"You're bleeding again."

"You keep bringing that up."

"Because the blood is on my hand."

He looked down. A bright red smear marked his glove. My wound had opened across my ribs. At the same instant, the cut beneath his coat darkened.

Kael's face changed. "That's not possible."

"You say that a lot for a man who just watched me tear a rift open without a mark."

"Your injury transferred."

"Maybe stop touching me, then."

He released my hand. The pain in my ribs eased. His cut began bleeding harder.

Kael sucked in a breath and pressed his palm to his side.

I stared at him. "You felt that."

"Yes."

"Good. Now you know what it feels like to be blamed for something you didn't do."

He looked back at me, and the alley went still around us.

"Don't die yet," he said.

His voice dropped low. He leaned close, close enough for his forehead to nearly touch mine.