Chapter 5

He caught it before it hit his ribs. Of course he did. Kael Mercer was trained to stop blades, bullets, and women with nothing left to lose.

The black corridor shook. Cracks raced across the stone under our boots. Beyond the wall, something huge scraped claws against the rock.

Kael twisted my arm behind my back and slammed me against a broken arch.

"You want to fight me here?" His mouth was inches from my ear. His breath hit my neck—hot, sharp, contrasting the freezing dust on my skin. "Fine. Fight me after we survive the next ten seconds."

"You said the exit was clear," I spat.

"It was."

"Then why is the wall trying to eat us?"

A deep growl rolled through the corridor.

Kael's grip tightened. The bond burned between our wrists, a thin black mark etched under our skin. Every time I pulled away, pain snapped through both of us. Every time he touched me, my stolen power stirred like a caged animal.

I hated that it answered him.

"Stop pulling," he commanded.

"Stop holding me."

"You rip the bond again, your heart stops."

"Yours, too."

His gray eyes dropped to my mouth for a heartbeat.

Then he looked back at the collapsing wall. "You sound very pleased about that."

"I am."

The wall split.

A pale, wet hand pushed through the crack.

Kael shoved me aside and drew the short blade from beneath his coat. The creature forced its shoulder into the gap—gray skin stretched over too many bones, fingers bending the wrong way.

"Behind me," Kael ordered.

"Try again."

I reached for my power. Nothing.

Empty.

The rift had stripped it from me three days ago in front of half the city. The council called it proof of my guilt. Kael had been the one to put a blade to my throat while the crowd screamed for my head.

Now that same man stood between me and a monster.

It didn't make him safe. It just made him useful.

"Mara." His voice dropped, dangerous. "Don't make me drag you."

"You already are."

I grabbed the chain at his belt and yanked him backward.

He spun fast. His chest hit mine. One hand slammed beside my head, trapping me against the arch. The other held the blade, the tip resting a hair's breadth from my ribs.

Neither of us moved.

His coat brushed my knees. Heat pressed through the thin fabric of my shirt. I could feel his pulse where his wrist hovered beside my cheek.

"You keep putting yourself under my knife," he whispered.

"You keep bringing it."

"I'm the reason you're alive."

"You're the reason I'm trapped in here."

His jaw flexed. "You want to blame someone? Save it for the man who set your family up."

The words hit harder than the blade.

Kael knew. He'd been there the night they died. Not in the house—according to his report—but outside. Standing guard for the council.

The same night the first rift opened under our street. The same night my mother vanished.

I shoved his blade away with two fingers. "You were there."

"Yes."

"You watched them die."

"No."

"You watched the house burn!"

"I watched the council seal the street."

"That isn't an answer."

"It's the only one you're getting while that thing is trying to climb through the wall."

The creature shrieked.

Kael broke away and drove his blade into its wrist. Black fluid sprayed the stone. The creature jerked, its claws tearing through Kael's shoulder.

He grunted, blood staining his coat.

I moved before I could think.

"Don't touch me," he warned.

"I wasn't planning to."

I kicked the creature's knee. The joint folded backward with a sickening pop. It slammed against the wall, and Kael buried his blade under its jaw.

The scream cut off.

The body collapsed. The wall snapped shut.

Silence.

Then Kael grabbed my wrist again.

"You disobeyed me."

"You noticed."

"You could have lost your hand."

"You could have lost your head. We both had a rough moment."

His thumb pressed against my pulse. Not hard enough to hurt. Just enough to remind me he could.

The bond flashed black beneath our skin.

Kael's expression shifted. I felt it too.

A tug. Not a random breach, but a precise, personal hook catching behind my ribs.

I turned toward the dark passage.

"No," Kael said.

"You felt that."

"I felt you react."

"Same thing."

"It isn't."

I pulled. The bond answered with a sharp burn in both our arms.

Kael stepped in front of me. "We're going back."

"The exit is behind us."

"Exactly."

"Something is calling me."

"Rifts don't call people."

"This one knows my name."

A whisper drifted through the corridor.

*Mara.*

My knees buckled.

Kael's hand caught my waist before I hit the ground. His fingers spread over my side, steady and warm. I should have shoved him. Instead, I gripped his coat and held on until the voice faded.

"Did you hear it?" I whispered.

He looked down at me. "Hear what?"

"My name."

"You're hurt."

"Don't do that."

"Do what?"

"Look at me like I'm losing my mind."

His fingers tightened against my waist. "I look at you like you're about to walk into a hole that eats power."

"Then keep up."

I broke his hold and ran.

"Mara!"

His boots hammered the stone behind me. The passage narrowed. Jagged black glass sliced my sleeve, nicking my arm. Blood ran down my fingers.

The bond flared.

Kael staggered, grabbing his own arm.

"Stop!" he snapped.

"I didn't do anything!"

"Your blood is feeding the rift."

I looked at my hand. The blood wasn't red.

Thin black threads crawled through it, moving under my skin like ink in water.

Kael reached for me. I backed away. "Don't."

"Let me see it."

"Why? So you can report another change to the council?"

"If I wanted you reported, you'd already be dead."

"You were ordered to execute me."

"Not here."

"That supposed to comfort me?"

"No. It's supposed to keep you moving."

The corridor shook.

A red mark appeared on the wall. A door drawn with a shaking hand. The lines pulsed in time with my heartbeat.

Kael stared at it. "That's not an exit."

"You don't know that."

"I know every marked breach in Glasshaven. That symbol isn't on the map."

"Maybe the map is lying."

"Maps don't lie. People do."

"You should know."

His eyes went cold. "Careful."

"Or what? You'll kill me now and save yourself the trouble?"

He crossed the space in two strides.

My back hit the glass wall. It cut through my shirt, stopping a breath from my skin. Kael planted his palm beside my head, blocking the edge. His face was inches from mine.

"Say it again," he dared.

"You're scared."

"Of you?"

"Of what happens if I'm right."

His breath slowed. Mine didn't.

The red symbol pulsed behind him.

"You think I killed the council heir," I whispered. "You think I killed my family. You think I let them strip my power for fun."

"I think the evidence was built to point at you."

"But you still came to execute me."

"Orders are orders."

"That's your excuse?"

"It's the law."

"No. It's cowardice with a uniform on."

His gaze sharpened. He caught my chin, turning my face toward the wall. His touch was controlled, almost careful, which made it worse.

"I have thirty days," he said. "On the thirtieth day, I kill you."

I stared at him. "You really know how to make a girl feel special."

"You asked for the truth."

"And if I prove I'm innocent?"

"I still kill you."

"If I save the city?"

"I still kill you."

"If you fall in love with me?"

His hand went still.

I hadn't meant to say it. Not really.

His gaze dropped, slower this time. The heat between us had nothing to do with the rift.

"That won't happen," he said.

"You answered too fast."

"Because the answer is obvious."

"Then move your hand."

He didn't.

His thumb brushed the corner of my jaw. A tiny motion. Barely there. My breath caught.

Kael noticed.

His eyes darkened. "You want me to move?"

"I want you to stop touching me like you forgot I'm your prisoner."

"You're not my prisoner."

"The bond says otherwise."

"The bond says if you die, I die."

"So I'm your leash."

"You're my responsibility."

"That sounds worse."

He leaned closer. His forehead almost touched mine.

"You keep daring me to prove you wrong."

"You keep failing."

The red door split down the center.

A blast of freezing air punched through. Kael spun, pulling me against his chest as shards of glass flew past.

His arm locked around my shoulders. My cheek hit his collarbone. His heartbeat slammed against my ear.

"Stay behind me," he said.

"You say that like I listen."

"For once, try."

The doorway opened onto a chamber. No walls. No floor. Just a platform of dark stone floating over a bottomless red glow.

At the center stood a broken metal frame. The same shape as the mark on my wrist.

I knew that frame. Not from a map. From the night my family died.

Kael felt me freeze. "What is it?"

"A lock."

"For what?"

"I don't know."

"Mara."

"I said I don't know!"

The frame clicked.

A line of red light ran across the top. Symbols appeared one by one. Most were damaged.

One wasn't.

*VOSS.*

Kael's arm tightened. "You said the rift knew your name."

"I said it felt like it did."

"That is your family mark."

"Yes."

"Why would a rift carry it?"

"Maybe ask the council. They built the first one."

"The council claims your family opened the breach."

"My family died trying to close it."

"You never told me that."

"You never asked. You were busy putting a blade to my throat."

The frame began to turn.

A deep click echoed. The bond pulled us toward it.

Kael dug his boots into the stone. "Don't let it take you."

"I'm not choosing this!"

"Fight it."

"I'm trying!"

He grabbed both my arms and dragged me back. The force grew. My boots scraped the platform.

"Look at me," he ordered.

"Why?"

"Because I said so."

"That's not a reason."

"It's the only one you have time for."

I looked at him. His face was hard, but a muscle jumped in his cheek. He was afraid. Not for himself. For me.

That scared me more than the rift.

"If it takes me," I whispered, "cut the bond."

"No."

"Kael."

"No."

"You heard me. Cut it."

"I'd have to cut through your arm."

"Then do it."

His grip shifted. His thumb pressed against the black mark on my wrist. The bond answered with a wave of heat.

"You don't get to decide that for me," he said.

"You decide everything else."

"Because you keep trying to die."

"Because you keep trying to kill me."

"Not yet."

"Thirty days, remember?"

"I remember every second."

The frame snapped open.

Black liquid spilled from the center, striking the platform. It spread in branching lines, racing toward our boots.

Kael shoved me back.

The liquid wrapped around his palm.

He hissed and dropped to one knee.

"Kael!"

"Don't touch it!"

Too late.

The black blood climbed over his fingers. It slid beneath his glove, crawling up his hand in twisting veins.

I tore the glove off.

"Mara, stop—"

His palm was covered in black lines. They moved.

The same lines were spreading across my own hand.

I stared at them. "That's not rift blood."

"No."

"What is it?"

He tried to close his fist. The black lines tightened, cutting into his skin.

Pain shot through the bond and dropped me to my knees.

Kael caught my shoulder. "Stay with me."

"You're the one bleeding."

"It doesn't m—"