Chapter 23 · The Brass Oath - Chapter 23: Underground Deal

"Take your hand off him, or I start breaking fingers." Mara drove her wrench into the smuggler's wrist before the man could press the blade under Cain's jaw.

The knife clattered across the stone floor. Cain dropped to one knee, one hand braced against the wall, the other locked around a brass restraint biting into his wrist.

Three more smugglers raised weapons.

Inez Calder didn't even look surprised. She sat behind a table made from an old engine plate, rolling one of Mara's fake power gems between two fingers.

"That was my buyer," Inez said. "You just damaged my buyer."

"Then invoice me." Mara kept the wrench up. "Where's the key?"

The biggest smuggler shoved Cain's shoulder. Cain's head struck the wall with a hard crack.

Mara's sigil flared under her shirt.

Cain sucked in a breath. The same burn snapped through her chest a second later, sharp enough to steal her grip.

"Don't," Cain rasped.

"Don't what? Watch them kill you?" Mara stepped toward the smuggler. "You dragged me into this deal. You can survive five minutes of me being difficult."

Cain lifted his eyes to hers. His face had gone pale, but his voice stayed flat.