Chapter 12 · The Order Above

"Move your hand, Sera. Slowly." Eli kept the blackglass shard between them, its blue light crawling over her face. "If that thing finishes showing the memory, I want your eyes on it. Not on me."

Sera's fingers stopped an inch from the shard. Her jaw tightened. "You point cursed glass at me, and you want manners?"

"I want the truth. Big difference."

The engine chamber shook beneath their boots. A deep metal bang rolled through the floor, followed by a red pulse from the machinery below. The countdown rune carved into the central housing flashed once.

NINE MINUTES.

Sera looked down. "That wasn't running before."

"No. It was waiting."

"For what?"

Eli stepped closer, blocking her view of the control panel. The heat under his skin had already started again. Black lines crawled from the old crack in his chest, slipping under his collar like ink in water.

"For the person who carries the matching mark," he said. "Guess who that is."

Her eyes snapped up. "You think this is funny?"

"I'm bleeding black fire, trapped under the city, and your badge just showed up in a murder memory. I ran out of funny ten minutes ago.