Chapter 5 · The Crown on the Recording

"Turn it off, Eli." Sera's hand twisted into the front of his shirt and slammed him against the iron table. "Right now."

The black box sat between them, lid open, its blue core spinning without wires, gears, or anyone touching it. Nia's voice still crawled through the workshop speakers.

Sera, they said you were the one who lit the tower.

Eli's ribs burned where the curse had split his skin. The fresh mark under it burned worse—a sharp black crown pressed into his chest like someone had branded him from the inside.

"You heard her," he said. "So why are you choking me instead of explaining?"

"Because you keep pretending you don't know what that box is."

"I know what it was. A dead recorder. Marlow sold it to me sealed."

"Marlow sells lies in better packaging."

Her forearm pressed harder against his throat. Sera wore the court's black coat, the silver clasp at her collar catching the blue light. The edge of her glove brushed his jaw when she leaned closer.

Too close. Close enough for Eli to feel the heat of her breath against his skin.

He smiled anyway. "If you wanted me dead, Officer Vale, you would've pulled the trigger by now."

Her eyes dropped to his mouth for half a second.

Then she shoved him harder. "Don't flatter yourself. I need your curse alive."

"That sounds almost romantic."

"Say one more stupid thing and I'll test whether the curse can grow back a tongue."

The box clicked.

Both of them turned.

A thin line of red light cut across the blackglass casing. The spinning core slowed. Nia's voice vanished, leaving only a faint crackle.

Sera released Eli and reached for the box.

He caught her wrist before her fingers touched it.

The contact hit both of them at once. Heat snapped up his arm. Silver lines flashed under Sera's skin, racing from her palm to her elbow. Eli's curse answered with a pulse beneath his ribs.

Sera's breath caught.

"Let go," she said.

"You first."

"I'm not holding you."

"You were holding my throat three seconds ago. I remember because breathing is kind of important to me."

Her gaze lifted to his. Hard. Cold. Not steady enough.

"The box is keyed to the bond," she said. "If it opens again, it may pull the curse out of you."

"And if I let you touch it?"

"It may pull the curse through me instead."

Eli looked down at their hands. The silver lines under her skin had reached her wrist. His own fingers tingled where they held her.

"You left that part out when you chained me to your life."

"You left out the part where you were carrying a living blackglass curse."

"I didn't know."

"You always know more than you say."

"That's rich coming from a Vale."

Her jaw tightened at the name.

Good. He'd found the bruise.

Sera yanked her wrist free and grabbed the edge of the table instead. "Say that again."

"Vale. Your family has been buying power towers, witnesses, and judges for twenty years. Now a tower explodes, my sister gets dragged into court custody, and somehow your badge points at me before the smoke clears. Forgive me if I don't trust the family crest."

"You think I put your sister in a cell?"

"I think your people did."

"My father is dead."

"That doesn't make him innocent."

The room snapped quiet around them.

Sera's fingers curled against the table. For the first time since she had caught him in the wreckage under the tower, her control cracked at the edges.

"You don't get to use my father against me," she said.

"Then stop using my sister against me."

"I didn't order the arrest."

"But you can get her out."

"Not without proof."

"Then play the recording."

She stared at the box.

Eli stepped between her and it. The movement put his chest inches from hers. The black crown under his torn shirt burned against the air between them.

Sera's eyes fixed on the mark.

"Move," she said.

"Ask nicely."

"Eli."

His name came out low. Not soft. Worse. It slid under his skin anyway.

"That's not asking."

She planted one hand on his shoulder and tried to push him aside. He caught her elbow. Her coat shifted beneath his fingers, smooth and warm from her body. The pulse in her arm jumped.

"You keep touching me like you hate me," he said.

"I do hate you."

"Your pulse disagrees."

Her knee drove into his thigh.

Eli folded with a curse. Sera slipped past him and snatched the box.

"Cheap move," he said, straightening.

"Effective move."

"You want me helpless that badly?"

"I want the truth before the curse kills us both."

The box opened wider in her hand.

A needle of blue light stabbed into her palm.

Sera gasped and dropped it.

Eli moved before he thought. He caught her around the waist and pulled her back from the table. The box clattered against the metal floor. Blue fire spilled out in a ring, stopping just short of their boots.

Sera's back hit his chest.

For one dangerous second, neither of them moved.

Her hair brushed his cheek. He could feel every quick breath she took. His hands were locked around her waist, over the thick fabric of her coat. She was tense beneath him, ready to strike, but she didn't pull away.

"You can let go now," she said.

"You can stop trying to stab the cursed machine."

"I wasn't stabbing it."

"You reached for it like you planned to threaten it."

"I was going to examine it."

"With your hand?"

"Do you have a better idea?"

"Several. Most involve not touching things that scream in dead people's voices."

Her head turned slightly. Her cheek nearly brushed his.

"You always talk this much when you're scared?"

"I talk this much when I'm trapped with an officer who might be the person who blew up the tower."

Her elbow drove back into his ribs.

The curse flared.

Black cracks raced across his chest. Sera felt them through his shirt. Her hand shot up and pressed over the mark.

The fire stopped.

Eli went still.

Her palm covered the crown. Heat seeped through the fabric. Her fingers spread against him, close to the center of the curse. He could feel her breathing change.

"Don't," he warned.

"Then stop burning."

"You don't get to order my body around."

"Apparently I do. You're alive because I do."

"And you're alive because I signed your little murder pact."

"You signed it because I had a blade at your throat."

"You had a blade at my throat because you wanted me to take the blame."

Sera looked over her shoulder. Her eyes were inches from his.

"If I wanted you blamed, I'd have delivered you to the court already."

"Maybe you need me alive until you find the rest of your evidence."

"Maybe I need you alive because your curse is linked to mine."

"That sounds like a problem you created."

"You were carrying it before I found you."

"And you were hunting me before you knew that."

Her mouth tightened. "I was hunting the man who entered the tower's engine room with stolen court sigils."

"I didn't steal them."

"They were in your workshop."

"Planted."

"Convenient."

"You know what's convenient? A Vale officer arriving before the rescue crews."

That landed.

Sera pulled her hand from his chest and turned inside his grip. Their coats scraped together. Her face was close enough that he could see the tiny cut beneath her lower lip, probably from the tower blast.

He should have let go.

He didn't.

Her fingers closed around the front of his shirt instead. "My unit arrived because the court knew the tower was going down."

Eli's grip loosened. "What did you say?"

"I said the court knew. Not me."

"How long?"

"Three minutes before the first explosion."

"And you still came for me?"

"Your name was in the order."

"Who signed it?"

She looked toward the black box. "The recording may tell us."

The blue ring on the floor blinked.

Once.

Twice.

Then the workshop door exploded inward.

Sera shoved Eli down as a bolt of red court magic tore through the room. It smashed into the wall where his head had been. Metal shrieked. Sparks rained over the table.

"Down!" she snapped.

"I noticed!"

Three figures pushed through the broken doorway wearing gray masks and court-issued armor. Not guards. Their shoulder plates carried no unit marks.

Sera drew her short blade.

The first masked man raised a charged pistol. "Officer Vale. Step away from the blackglass carrier."

Eli crouched behind the table. "Carrier? That's a cute word for cursed criminal."

"Shut up," Sera said.

"You say that like it works."

The masked man aimed at Sera. "Hand over the box and we may let you walk out."

"You don't have authority here," Sera said.

"We have a direct crown order."

Her expression changed.

Just a little. A pause. A tightening around her eyes.

Eli caught it.

"You know them," he whispered.

"I know the order code."

"Same thing."

"Not now."

The second masked figure moved toward the table.

Sera threw her blade.

It struck his wrist guard and knocked the pistol wide. The shot punched through a hanging chain. The chain crashed down between them.

Eli rolled across the floor, grabbed the black box, and kicked the table into the third attacker.

"Run!" Sera shouted.

"Where?"

"The lift shaft."

"That lift has no bottom."

"Neither does the street if you stay here. Move!"

She grabbed the back of his coat and dragged him toward the narrow service door. He caught her hand as they ran, not to stop her but because the curse had started pulling again.

Pain ripped through his chest.

Sera stumbled at the same time.

The black crown burned through his shirt. A matching line of dark light appeared beneath the skin at her wrist.

"Eli," she said through her teeth. "What did you do?"

"I picked up the box."

"Put it down."

"They'll take it."

"Put it down!"

The first attacker fired again.

Sera spun, dragged Eli against the wall, and covered him with her body as the bolt scorched the doorframe. Her shoulder pressed into his chest. One of her hands braced beside his head. The other still held his wrist.

Their faces were inches apart.

Her breath shook against his mouth.

"If you die," she whispered, "the curse tears through me."

"If you keep hiding things, I might decide that's fair."

"You really are a bastard."

"You noticed."

Her gaze dropped to his lips again. This time, he saw it. Saw the hesitation. Saw the choice she refused to make.

Then she shoved him toward the service door.

"Inside."

They fell through together. Sera slammed the lock while Eli held the box against his chest. The attackers hit the other side a second later.

The service shaft was barely wide enough for one person. Sera had her back against the wall. Eli was trapped between her and the opposite grate, their linked wrists glowing faintly in the dark.

"You planned this," he said.

"I planned the door. Not the assassins."

"Court assassins using a crown order?"

"Lower your voice."

"Why? So the people trying to kill us won't hear the part where you explain your family?"

Sera grabbed his collar and pulled him close. "Listen to me. If that box plays the full recording, it could prove I had nothing to do with the tower. It could also prove my father did."

Eli stared at her.

"And you still want it played?"

"I want the truth."

"Even if it gets your name stripped?"

"My name is already a cage."

The words came out rough. Real.

Eli looked at her hand on his collar. Her thumb rested near his throat. He could feel the warmth of her through the glove.

"You could've told me that before you chained us together."

"You would've run."

"I still might."

"The curse won't let you get far."

"Then stop looking at me like you want me to stay."

Her fingers went still.

The attackers struck the door again. Metal bent inward.

Sera's eyes lifted to his. "You think I want you here?"

"I think you keep saving me."

"I keep saving the evidence."

"Liar."

The word sat between them.

Sera's grip tightened. Her face came closer, close enough for his skin to catch the warmth of her breath. For half a second, he thought she might hit him.

Instead, she whispered, "Play the box."

"You sure?"

"No. Do it anyway."

Eli set the blackglass box on the floor between their boots. The casing opened by itself. A thin red beam climbed the shaft wall and formed a crown symbol.

Sera flinched.

"That crest," Eli said. "That's the same mark under my skin."

"I know."

"You knew?"

"I saw it when the bond formed."

"And you didn't mention it?"

"You were busy trying to break my nose."

"You deserved it."

"Probably."

The box clicked again.

A woman's breath filled the shaft.

Nia.

The recording was clearer now. No static. No distortion. Just fear pressed tight behind every word.

"Sera, if this reaches you, don't answer anyone from the court. Don't use the north gates. They have watchers in every lift station."

Sera closed her eyes.

Eli watched her face. "She knew you."

"Yes."

"How?"

"Nia worked in my father's archive."

"Worked?"

"She disappeared two weeks ago."

The voice on the recording broke into a whisper.

"They told me the blast would be controlled. They said the tower would shut down for six minutes, then restart. But someone changed the core sequence. Someone used a living key."

Eli's hand went to his chest.

The crown mark pulsed under his palm.

Sera noticed. "Don't touch it."

"Why?"

"Because it reacts to the recording."

"You keep saying things like that after the danger starts."

"Do you want to argue or listen?"

"Both. I'm talented."

Nia's voice continued.

"The key wasn't supposed to survive. The court needed a body that could carry the blackglass fire long enough to reach the tower core. Eli Voss was never the target. He was the cover story."

Eli stopped breathing.

Sera looked at him. "You heard that."

"Unfortunately."

"Eli—"

"Don't say my name like you can fix it."

The door buckled behind them.

Sera pressed one hand to his chest, right over the crown. The curse quieted beneath her palm, but her fingers shook.

"I didn't know," she said.

"You knew enough to drag me into a life pact."

"I knew enough to keep you alive."

"That's not the same as trusting me."

"Trust is a luxury when people are shooting through doors."

"Then what am I to you?"

Her eyes held his.

For one beat, she didn't have an answer.

The box made a sharp electronic chirp.

Nia's voice vanished.

A different voice came through—male, calm, close to the recording device.

"Stop the file."

Sera's face went white.

Eli leaned toward the box. "Who is that?"

"I don't know."

"That's a lie."

"I said I don't know."

The male voice spoke again.

"The carrier is disposable. The Vale officer is not. If she survives, remove her access and blame the fixer."

Sera's hand dropped from Eli's chest.

He caught it before it fell.

"Sera."

"Don't."

"He called you officer, not by name."

"I heard him."

"He knew you would be here."

"I heard that too."

The service door groaned. A gloved hand pushed through the gap.

Sera drew the blade from her belt with her free hand. "When I open this door, you run left."

"And you?"

"I make them look at me."

"No."

"That wasn't a request."

"You don't get to die for my sister's evidence."

Her eyes flashed. "You don't get to decide what I die for."

"Then stop deciding what I live through."

The box flashed red.

The uncut recording began.

Nia's voice came through, raw and shaking. "Don't trust the Vales. The real bomber is wearing a court crown—"

Sera froze.

Eli felt her fingers tighten around his.

Outside the door, the attackers stopped pounding.

Someone on the other side whispered, "They heard it."

Sera looked at Eli. The crown mark under his shirt lit up, matching the red symbol on the wall.

"Your family crest," he said. "Why is it inside my curse?"

Her lips parted, but no answer came.

Then the damaged door began to open, and a voice from the other side asked, "Officer Vale, did you really think the crown would let you—"