Sera’s hand locked around Eli’s wrist before he could reach for Marlow’s knife.
“Don’t,” she said.
Marlow kept the blade under Eli’s chin. Blood ran from a cut above his eyebrow and dripped onto the rusted floor. He looked half-dead, but his grip didn’t shake.
“Funny,” Eli said. “I was about to say the same thing.”
“You’re in no position to be funny,” Marlow snapped.
“I’m wanted by the entire city, listed as a living power core, and currently surrounded by two people who keep threatening me with sharp objects. I think I’ve earned one joke.”
Sera tightened her fingers. Heat moved through the pact between them, quick and sharp, like a spark jumping across a wire. Eli felt it in his wrist. He saw her feel it too. Her mouth flattened.
“Keep your voice down,” she ordered.
“Or what?”
“Or I put you against that wall until you remember who’s keeping you alive.”
Marlow gave a short laugh. “You two always flirt like this?”
“We don’t flirt,” Sera and Eli said together.
That made Marlow’s smile disappear.
Behind him, the old tunnel wall flashed with red lines. A new notice burned across the stone in the court’s blocky script.
LIVE CAPTURE AUTHORIZED.
ELI VOSS: PRIORITY TARGET.
SERA VALE: TRAITOR. ARMED. DO NOT APPROACH ALONE.
A timer appeared below their names.
00:47:19.
Eli stared at it. “That wasn’t there a minute ago.”
“It was waiting for the signal,” Marlow said.
“What signal?”
“The one that tells every court patrol in the lower city where you are.” He shoved the knife closer. “And now they know.”
Sera stepped between them, forcing Marlow’s blade away from Eli’s throat. Her shoulder brushed Eli’s chest. The pact pulled tight. He caught the clean metal scent of her coat, the warmth of her body through both layers of fabric, and the faint tremor she tried to hide in her breathing.
“Move,” she said.
Marlow’s eyes narrowed. “You don’t give orders down here.”
“I do when soldiers are coming.”
“You’re the reason they’re coming.”
“I’m the reason you’re still standing.”
“Barely.”
Sera grabbed Marlow by the front of his coat and drove him into the wall. The stone shook. His knife dropped, clattering across the floor.
“Tell me where Naya is,” Sera said.
Marlow’s gaze slid to Eli. “You didn’t tell him?”
Eli’s stomach turned cold. “Tell me what?”
Sera didn’t look back. “Marlow.”
“Your officer friend has been keeping secrets.” Marlow’s smile returned, thin and ugly. “That must hurt.”
Eli caught Sera’s elbow and pulled her around. “What did you know?”
Her eyes hit his. Gray. Steady. Too steady.
“Not here.”
“That’s not an answer.”
“It’s the only one you’re getting while the tunnel is broadcasting our location.”
“You knew they had Naya before we came down here.”
Sera’s jaw flexed once.
Marlow reached down, picked up his knife, and wiped the blade on his sleeve. “She knew the court had found the girl. She just didn’t know how bad it was.”
Eli moved toward Sera. “How bad?”
“Eli—”
“How bad?”
Sera raised one hand. The command was clear, but the pact made it worse. Eli felt her fear before she could bury it. It brushed across his skin, hot and frantic.
He stopped.
Marlow saw it. Of course he did.
“Oh,” he said softly. “You’re feeling each other now.”
Sera’s head snapped toward him. “Say one more word.”
“Or you’ll glare me to death?”
Her hand went to the short blade at her hip.
Eli caught her wrist. “Don’t waste time.”
Her pulse knocked against his fingers. Fast. Too fast for someone pretending she had control.
She looked down at his hand, then back at his face. “Let go.”
“Tell me about Naya first.”
“You don’t get to order me around.”
“You already ordered me to stay beside you.”
“That was different.”
“How?”
“Because I’m the one holding the weapon.”
“And because you’re scared I’ll leave.”
The words landed harder than he meant them to.
Sera went still.
Marlow’s eyebrows rose. “Well. That was almost honest.”
Sera twisted her wrist free and shoved Eli back. Not hard enough to hurt him. Hard enough to remind him she could.
“Keep pushing,” she said, “and I’ll chain you to me myself.”
The heat under Eli’s skin jumped. The blackglass crack across his chest burned through his shirt.
He smiled without humor. “You say that like it’s a threat.”
Her gaze dropped to his mouth for half a second.
Then she stepped closer.
“It is,” she whispered.
They were almost touching. Eli could feel her breath near his cheek. He wanted to step away. He wanted to close the last inch. Both thoughts made the curse flare.
Marlow cleared his throat. “I hate to interrupt whatever this is, but the city’s finest are about to turn this tunnel into a grave.”
Sera broke eye contact first. “Show us the way out.”
“No.”
Eli looked at him. “You brought us here.”
“I brought you to a choice.” Marlow held up the metal badge. Naya’s name was stamped across it, but the center had been burned black. “The court took her alive. They sent this back so you’d understand the price of moving against them.”
Eli took one step forward.
Sera blocked him again. “Don’t touch it.”
“Why?”
“Court badges carry tracking marks.”
Marlow shook his head. “Not this one. They want him to find it.”
“Why?” Eli asked.
“Because they know what you’ll do.”
Eli snatched the badge before Sera could stop him.
The metal screamed.
A black thread shot from the badge into his palm. It raced up his arm, leaving no wound, but the pact slammed through him so hard his knees buckled.
Sera caught him around the waist.
“Eli.”
“I’m fine.”
“You’re not.”
“I said I’m fine.”
“You’re shaking.”
“Maybe I’m cold.”
Her arm tightened around him. “Don’t lie to me.”
The words were low, almost private. Her cheek was close to his. He could feel the warmth of her palm through his shirt, steadying him while the curse crawled beneath his skin.
Marlow watched them with a face that had lost all amusement.
“The badge is a choice,” he said. “The court will trade Naya for the black box.”
Eli pulled away from Sera. “They know about the box?”
“They know you took it from the tower wreckage.”
“Who told them?”
“Ask the officer.”
Sera’s hand closed around the hilt at her side. “You’re enjoying this.”
“I’m surviving it.”
“You sold Naya’s location.”
“I sold a rumor. The court already had her.”
“You could have warned us.”
“I did. You were busy falling through the floor.”
Eli stepped between them. “Enough. What happens if we give them the box?”
“Naya walks out.”
“And me?”
Marlow’s eyes dropped to the blackglass burning through Eli’s shirt. “You don’t.”
The tunnel seemed to shrink around them.
Sera’s voice turned flat. “Explain.”
“The box contains the buyer’s mark. The court wants it destroyed. They’ll take Naya, burn the evidence, and keep Eli locked in a core chamber until his curse powers the next tower.”
Eli stared at him. “You said they’d let her go.”
“They will.”
“And they’ll keep me.”
“Yes.”
Sera stepped forward. “Then there is no deal.”
Marlow pointed the knife at her. “You don’t get to decide that.”
“She’s my sister.”
“I know.”
“Then you know what I’ll do.”
“I know exactly what you’ll do. That’s why I’m giving you six minutes to pick.”
The timer on the wall dropped.
00:40:03.
A distant metal door slammed somewhere above them.
Sera turned toward the sound. “We’re leaving.”
Marlow grabbed her sleeve. She spun, blade flashing. He barely got his arm up in time. Steel stopped a finger’s width from his throat.
“Touch me again,” Sera said, “and I’ll leave you for the patrols.”
“Then you’ll never reach the old control room.”
Eli looked past them. “There’s a control room?”
Marlow pointed down a narrow passage. “The box can open the sealed gate. Behind it is a relay station. You can use the station to trace the court’s signal and find where they’re holding Naya.”
“You didn’t mention that,” Sera said.
“You didn’t ask.”
“You’re going to regret being born.”
“Get in line.”
Another impact shook dust from the ceiling.
Sera shoved Marlow aside and grabbed Eli’s collar. “Move.”
He caught her hand. “You’re not leaving him.”
“He’s coming because he knows the route.”
Marlow gave a tired shrug. “See? She needs me.”
“I need you alive long enough to point,” Sera said. “After that, I make no promises.”
They ran.
The passage was barely wide enough for two people. Eli’s shoulder hit the wall. Sera stayed in front, one hand on the stone, the other holding her weapon. Every few steps, she glanced back to make sure he was still there.
The first time she did it, Eli noticed.
The third time, he said, “You can stop checking.”
“No.”
“Afraid I’ll run?”
“Afraid you’ll collapse.”
“Your concern is showing.”
“I’m concerned about the curse killing me when it takes you.”
There it was. The truth, wrapped in a threat.
Eli moved closer until his chest almost brushed her back. “You could have let me die in the tower.”
“I almost did.”
“But you didn’t.”
“Don’t make that mistake twice.”
Marlow glanced over his shoulder. “If you two are done pretending this is about tactics, the gate is ahead.”
Sera stopped so fast Eli hit her back.
Her breath caught. His hands landed on her waist to keep them both upright. For one second, neither of them moved.
The pact hummed between their skin.
Sera’s fingers closed over his wrists. She didn’t push him away.
“Hands,” she said quietly.
“Right.”
“Eli.”
“I’m moving.”
He pulled back, but her grip stayed for one extra beat before she released him.
Marlow pretended not to notice. “The gate needs a living spark.”
Eli held up the black box. “Meaning me.”
“Meaning the curse inside you.”
Sera’s eyes sharpened. “How do you know what’s inside him?”
Marlow looked at the box. “Because I helped build the first containment shell.”
Eli’s fingers tightened around it. “You built this?”
“No. I built the lock.”
“Who built the curse?”
Marlow didn’t answer.
Sera stepped close enough that her coat brushed Eli’s arm. “Answer him.”
Marlow’s mouth pulled tight. “The court calls it an inheritance.”
“Try again,” Eli said.
“The court didn’t create it. They found it under the city and put a crown around it.”
The blackglass in Eli’s chest pulsed.
A red symbol flickered across the box. It looked like a closed eye with a line through the center.
Sera took the box from him. “You’re not opening it.”
Eli reached for it. “Naya’s inside this mess.”
“And you’ll be dead before we reach her if the curse gets another opening.”
“You don’t know that.”
“I can feel your heart trying to punch through your ribs.”
His breath stopped.
Her gaze held his. “That’s what happens when you lie to me. The pact pulls harder.”
“You’re enjoying having that much control.”
“No.”
“Your hand says otherwise.”
She looked down. Her fingers were still wrapped around his wrist, thumb pressed to his pulse.
For the first time, she seemed to realize how close they stood. Her thumb stopped moving.
Eli lowered his voice. “If you wanted me to stay, you could just ask.”
“Don’t.”
“Don’t what?”
“Make this soft.”
“I’m not the one holding my hand like I might disappear.”
Her eyes flashed. “You keep talking, and I’ll prove I can let go.”
“Then do it.”
The words hung between them.
Sera’s grip loosened.
A gunshot cracked somewhere above.
Marlow swore. “They’re through the first door.”
Sera shoved the box back at Eli. “Open the gate.”
“You just said—”
“I changed my mind.”
“Convenient.”
“Eli.”
The way she said his name cut through the argument. No command. No threat. Just his name, stripped bare.
He pressed the box to the gate.
The metal bars lit up. Black sparks crawled over his fingers. Pain snapped through his arm, and Sera grabbed the back of his coat.
“Stay with me,” she said.
“I’m trying.”
“No. Try harder.”
The gate groaned open one inch.
Marlow shoved his shoulder into it. “Again.”
Eli pushed the box harder. The blackglass crack across his chest flared under his shirt. Sera’s curse answered from her skin, sending a hot line of light from her palm into his wrist.
He gasped.
Her face went pale. “What happened?”
“You tell me.”
“I don’t know.”
“That’s comforting.”
The gate opened wide enough for them to slip through. Marlow went first. Sera pulled Eli after her, keeping hold of his wrist as if the tunnel might steal him if she didn’t.
They spilled into the old relay room.
A dead console covered one wall. Copper pipes crossed the ceiling. In the center sat a round metal table with a black box-shaped socket built into it.
Eli froze.
“That socket matches the box,” he said.
Marlow locked the gate behind them. “Put it in.”
Sera grabbed Eli’s shoulder. “Wait.”
“What now?”
“Your chest.”
The blackglass crack had spread beneath his shirt. Thin lines reached toward his collarbone, glowing faintly.
Eli looked at her hand on him. “You’re worried again.”
“I’m calculating how much force it takes to knock you out.”
“Still counts.”
She leaned closer. Her breath touched his jaw. “You want to keep teasing me while your curse is eating you?”
“I want you to stop looking at me like I’m already gone.”
Her fingers tightened.
“I’m not,” she said.
“Then look at me and say it.”
Sera did.
For a second, the noise outside faded. Her eyes stayed on his. Her face was inches from his, and the heat between them had nothing to do with the pact.
Then she pushed him toward the table.
“Put it in.”
Eli laughed once. “There she is.”
He set the box into the socket.
Nothing happened.
Marlow’s face drained. “That’s impossible.”
“You said it would open the station,” Eli said.
“It should.”
Sera drew her weapon. “What did you leave out?”
“Nothing.”
“Wrong answer.”
She turned the blade toward him.
The black box clicked.
All three of them went still.
A thin seam appeared across its lid. No one touched it.
Marlow backed away. “Take it out.”
Eli reached for the box.
Sera caught his hand. “Don’t.”
“It opened by itself.”
“That’s why you don’t touch it.”
The seam widened.
A small red light blinked inside.
Marlow whispered, “That box has never opened without a key.”
Eli looked at Sera. “What key does it recognize?”
Her face had gone hard again, but her grip on his hand was shaking.
“Eli, step away.”
The lid lifted.
A woman’s voice whispered from inside the box.
“Sera… they said you were the one who lit the tower.”
Sera’s fingers went cold around Eli’s.
At the same moment, the blackglass wound across his chest burned through his shirt, and a bright court crown appeared beneath his skin.
Eli stared at the mark, then at her face. “Why is the court’s crown—”