Chapter 19 · The Brass Oath - Chapter 19: Blood-Stained Seal

"Get away from the door, Mara. Now." Cain slammed his palm against the emergency wheel before the pressure gauge dropped another mark.

The steel door locked with a heavy clunk.

Mara hit his shoulder hard enough to make his boots scrape across the floor. "You don't get to order me around after selling my location to the Council."

"I didn't sell anything."

"Your code opened the outer gate. Your voice gave them the room number." She shoved him again. "That's not a coincidence, Rook. That's a delivery."

Cain caught both her wrists and pinned them against the wall beside her head. His gloves were gone. His bare hands closed around her skin, hot and rough, while the vacuum room's brass pipes hissed behind her.

"Listen to me," he said.

"Take your hands off me."

"You want them to hear us? Fine. Scream louder. The room is already losing air, and the seal in your chest is eating through your pulse."

Mara's mouth went dry.

The red numbers above the inner hatch flickered.

00:08:41.

She twisted against him. "You said we had ten minutes."

"We had ten."

"Eight minutes isn't ten."

"I know how counting works.