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"By order of the Crown, step away from the marked subject!" The Foundry door blew off its hinges and slammed across the room.
Sera moved before Eli could. One hand caught the back of his coat. The other drew her blade and shoved him behind her.
Three Crown soldiers stormed through the dust, black armor sealed at the throat. A fourth raised a shock-rifle straight at Eli's chest.
"Don't," Sera snapped.
The soldier's visor turned toward her. "Officer Vale. Stand aside."
"You entered my operation without clearance. Lower the rifle."
"Your clearance was revoked thirty seconds ago."
Eli pressed one palm to his chest. The black cracks under his shirt had spread higher, crawling toward his collarbone. Every pulse sent a hot sting through his ribs—and a matching flash through the mark on Sera's wrist.
She felt it. Her jaw tightened.
"He's not going anywhere," she said.
"He isn't supposed to." The soldier tapped the side of his rifle. Blue power gathered around the barrel. "The order says immediate execution."
Eli leaned around Sera's shoulder. "You people always make arrests sound so romantic."
"Shut up," she said.
"I was trying to help."
"You never help. You make disasters and charge people for fixing them."
"And yet you still need me."
Her eyes cut toward him. Gray. Sharp. Too close. Dust clung to one side of her face, and a thin line of blood ran from her temple to her jaw. Eli wanted to wipe it away. He wanted to bite his own tongue for noticing.
"Keep talking," she said softly, "and I'll let them shoot you."
"You won't."
"Test me."
The rifle fired.
Sera twisted, grabbed Eli by the front of his coat, and dragged him sideways. The bolt struck the iron pillar behind them. Black metal screamed. A hot wave rolled through the room.
Eli hit the floor on one knee. Sera landed over him, one thigh braced beside his hip, her blade pressed under the nearest soldier's chin.
"Next shot," she said, "and I take his throat first."
The soldier froze.
Eli stared up at her. Her coat brushed his cheek. He could feel the heat of her through the fabric, the quick beat of her pulse where her wrist locked around his collar.
"You can get off me anytime," he muttered.
"You can stop staring anytime."
"I'm checking for injuries."
"You're checking my boots."
"They look dangerous."
"They are."
She shoved away from him and came up fast. Eli rolled behind a workbench as another bolt tore through the space where his head had been.
"Sera!" he shouted. "The tower mark is feeding the rifles!"
"I noticed!"
"Then stop letting them shoot at me!"
"I have a better idea. Fix it."
"While being hunted?"
"You wanted me to trust your skills. Earn it."
The soldiers advanced in formation. Their armor carried the Crown's split-circle crest, but the power lines in their weapons were wrong. Too bright. Too unstable. Eli had spent years repairing illegal engines, and he knew bad work when he saw it.
"Those rifles are jury-rigged," he called. "The regulators are reversed."
"Can you disable them?"
"If I get close."
"How close?"
"Close enough to ruin your day."
Sera kicked a metal tray across the floor. It struck one soldier's boots. He stumbled. She threw her blade, and the weapon buried itself in the rifle's power cell.
The cell burst with a sharp blue flash.
The soldier dropped, shaking.
"Now," Sera said.
Eli sprang from behind the bench. He grabbed a loose copper lead and slapped it against the exposed regulator on the second rifle. The weapon shrieked. The soldier cursed and threw it aside.
The third one charged him.
Eli barely raised his arm before the soldier slammed him into the wall. The black cracks under his skin flared. Pain ripped up his chest.
Sera's hand closed around the soldier's neck seal.
"Take your hands off him."
The soldier drove an elbow toward Eli's ribs.
Sera pulled him backward with enough force to break his stance. Eli stumbled into her. His back hit her chest. Her arm locked across his middle, holding him against her while her blade hovered at the soldier's throat.
"I said off."
The soldier looked at the mark on her wrist. "You're linked to the core."
"Watch your mouth."
"The order says the subject is a living energy core. Anyone bound to him is contaminated."
Eli glanced down. The black lines had pushed through his shirt in the shape of a jagged crown.
"Contaminated?" he said. "That's a nice word for 'we have no idea what we're doing.'"
Sera tightened her arm around him. "Quiet."
"You keep saying that like it works."
"It will if I break your jaw."
"You'd have to let go first."
For half a second, neither of them moved. Her breath touched the side of his neck. Her grip was firm, but not cruel. The heat of her palm pressed through his coat, right above his heart.
Then the mark burned.
Sera sucked in a breath and released him.
Eli turned. "You felt that."
"Don't start."
"Your hand's shaking."
She curled her fingers into a fist. "The bond is reacting to the Crown seal."
"You said the bond would keep the curse contained."
"I said it might."
"That wasn't the deal."
"The deal was that you stay alive long enough to fix it. You don't get to complain about the fine print while soldiers are trying to kill you."
The commander stepped over the fallen rifle. He removed his helmet. His face was young, pale, and completely empty.
"Officer Vale, kneel and surrender the subject."
Sera lifted her blade again. "Give me one reason."
"Your sister is in Crown custody."
Eli's stomach dropped. "Nia?"
The commander's eyes shifted to him. "Nia Voss. Detained at the eastern checkpoint. She is scheduled for transfer to the Crown Archive at dawn."
"You said she was safe," Eli said.
Sera didn't look at him. "I said I'd protect her."
"You said the court hadn't found her."
"They hadn't."
"And now they have."
"Yes."
The simple answer hit harder than an excuse would have.
Eli stepped toward her. "You knew they were searching for her."
"I knew they would search."
"You knew they had a badge ready."
"I knew the Crown was watching every exit."
"And you still dragged me into this room?"
"I dragged you away from a public execution."
"You dragged me into a curse with a target on my chest."
"You signed the contract."
"You forced my hand."
Sera came close enough that the tip of her blade touched the coat over his heart. "You were already dying. Don't pretend I created your choices."
The soldiers raised their weapons again.
Eli stared at the blade. "If they take me, Nia disappears."
"Yes."
"If I run, the curse takes this district."
"Yes."
"And if I stay with you?"
Sera's gaze dropped to his mouth for one quick, angry second. Then it returned to his eyes.
"You fix the curse. I keep you out of their hands. We find the black box before the Crown does."
"You keep saying 'we' like I agreed to trust you."
"You don't have to trust me. You just have to stay close enough that I can stop your heart if the curse breaks loose."
Eli laughed once. It came out rough. "That's your pitch?"
"It's the truth."
"You really know how to make a man feel wanted."
"You're not wanted. You're useful. Learn the difference."
The commander raised two fingers. The soldiers moved apart, creating a clear line of fire.
Sera grabbed Eli's wrist. Her fingers locked over the black contract mark.
"We're leaving," she said.
"Through them?"
"Through the floor."
"That floor is solid iron."
"Not anymore."
She slammed her marked hand against the ground.
The contract flared between them. Black light raced from Eli's chest down his arm and into her palm. The iron plates cracked. A circle of red heat opened beneath their boots.
The commander shouted, "Fire!"
Sera pulled Eli against her.
"Don't let go."
"I wasn't planning to."
"You always let go."
"You don't know me well enough to say that."
"I know exactly what you are."
The floor collapsed.
They dropped through smoke and burning metal. Eli caught Sera around the waist. She caught the edge of a support beam with one hand. Their bodies slammed together against the side of the shaft.
Above them, soldiers shouted. A rifle discharged. The bolt struck the beam beside Sera's fingers.
"Move!" Eli yelled.
"I am moving!"
"You're hanging us over a furnace!"
"Then stop talking and climb!"
He looked down. A maintenance shaft plunged beneath the Foundry, lined with old pipes and dead engine housings. Far below, a red glow pulsed in time with the curse under his skin.
"That's not a furnace," he said.
"What is it?"
"The old pressure core."
Sera's eyes narrowed. "Can it get us out?"
"It can get us killed faster."
"Pick one."
He hooked his boot around a pipe and reached for her. "Give me your hand."
"If you drop me—"
"You'll stab me. I know. Hand."
She hesitated.
Eli looked up at her. Dust streaked her face. Her mouth was tight, but her fingers were bleeding around the beam.
"Sera."
She released the beam and grabbed him.
The contract snapped hot between their wrists. Eli's shoulder nearly tore from its socket. He pulled her down onto a narrow metal platform. She landed hard against him, one hand pressed to his chest.
The crown-shaped mark burned beneath her palm.
Neither of them spoke.
Her face was inches from his. He could feel her breath against his lips. Her hair brushed his jaw. The bond dragged every spike of pain from his body into hers, and every ragged breath she took came back through him.
"Move," she whispered.
"You first."
"I am not carrying you."
"You'd miss me if I died."
"I'd miss the chance to arrest you."
"Liar."
Her hand pressed harder against his chest. "Say that again."
"Liar."
The platform shook. A heavy blast struck somewhere above. Metal screamed through the shaft.
Sera grabbed the back of his neck and shoved his head down as a piece of broken pipe crashed across the platform.
"You keep saving me," Eli said.
"Don't make it weird."
"You're the one holding my neck."
"I'm holding you still."
"Feels personal."
She shoved him away and pointed down the shaft. "There. The service ladder."
They climbed fast. Eli's legs shook, but he kept moving. Sera stayed below him, close enough to catch his boots if the curse made him slip. He hated that he noticed. He hated more that he trusted her to do it.
At the bottom, they found a sealed hatch with a Crown lock.
Sera reached for her badge.
Eli caught her wrist. "Don't use it."
"It's my badge."
"The soldiers tracked it."
"Then break the lock."
"I can, if you stop touching the mechanism."
"I wasn't touching it."
"You were thinking about touching it."
"Now you're just being irritating."
"That's my best skill."
She stepped aside. Their shoulders brushed. The contact sent a small, sharp pulse through the bond. Sera's eyes flicked to him, and for one dangerous second, the threat above them seemed farther away.
Eli crouched at the lock and pulled a thin pick from his sleeve.
Sera stared. "You had that the whole time?"
"I have several things the Crown would love to confiscate."
"If you steal from me, I'll cut off your hand."
"You say the sweetest things."
The lock clicked.
Sera pushed the hatch open. They emerged into an abandoned service tunnel beneath the Old Foundry. A single lamp buzzed overhead. Someone had painted a black fox on the brick wall.
Eli stopped.
"Marlow," he said.
"Your information broker?"
"My unreliable information broker."
"You trust him?"
"No. That's why he might still be alive."
Sera seized the front of his coat and turned him toward her. "Listen carefully. From this second on, you stay within arm's reach. No disappearing. No private deals. No trying to break the bond without telling me."
"You're giving orders again."
"I'm keeping you alive."
"You keep saying that like it makes you my owner."
Her fingers tightened. "The Crown owns your name, your sister, and the right to burn this whole district to get you. I own the part of you that's still breathing."
Eli's pulse jumped beneath her hand.
"Careful," he said. "That almost sounded like concern."
"It was a warning."
"Your warnings have warm hands."
She shoved him back against the brick. Her body blocked the tunnel. The cold wall pressed into his shoulders. Her face came close, close enough that he could count the tiny gold flecks in her gray eyes.
"Keep flirting," she said, voice low, "and I'll gag you with your own shirt."
"You'd have to get closer."
The contract flashed.
Pain struck both of them. Sera's forehead dropped against his. Eli grabbed her elbow to keep her upright. Her breath caught, hot against his mouth.
"What was that?" he asked.
"The bond tightening."
"Because you threatened me?"
"Because you wanted me closer."
His grip went still.
Sera looked at his hand on her arm. Then at him.
"Let go," she said.
He did.
She stepped back, but the space between them felt worse than the contact.
A metal bell rang somewhere in the tunnel.
Once.
Twice.
A red line appeared along the wall, followed by Crown lettering. Eli read it before he could stop himself.
"Public emergency order," he said. "All district gates sealed."
Sera moved beside him. "Read the rest."
"Any citizen sheltering a marked core will be charged with treason."
"Keep going."
A second line burned into view.
"Priority bounty issued for Eli Voss and Sera Vale. Capture alive if possible."
Sera went still.
Eli glanced at her. "Looks like we're popular."
"They listed me as an accomplice."
"You did help me escape."
"I didn't help you. I prevented a false execution."
"Tell that to the Crown."
The wall changed again. A timer appeared beneath their names.
00:19:59.
Eli's mouth went dry. "What happens when it reaches zero?"
Sera drew her blade. "The district gates open."
"That sounds good."
"To the execution squads."
The timer dropped.
00:19:42.
A heavy door at the end of the tunnel unlocked with three loud clanks.
Eli lifted his pick. "Marlow better have a plan."
"If he doesn't?"
"Then we make one."
"And if he sells us out?"
Eli looked at the mark binding their wrists. "Then you keep me alive long enough to make him regret it."
Sera almost smiled. It vanished before he could be sure.
The door cracked open.
Marlow Quinn stood behind it, coat torn, one eye bruised, and Nia's Crown custody badge pinched between two fingers.
He looked at Eli first. Then at Sera.
"You two took your time," Marlow said.
Eli stepped forward. "Where's my sister?"
Marlow's face lost its crooked grin.
"The court found her first."
Sera's blade rose. "What did they do to Nia?"
Marlow glanced at the red timer burning through the wall.
"That depends," he said, lifting the custody badge, "on whether you want to save her or clear Eli's name. Because the Crown just put both choices on the same—"