Chapter 27 · Untitled Chapter

"You can't take all of it." Mara's voice cuts through the roar of the engine below us.

I'm already halfway to the edge of the catwalk, the ledger burning against my ribs like a hot iron. The debt engine down in the pit is screaming now, spitting arcs of white light that turn the shadows into knives. Every name in Cinderfall is scrolling across the walls, debts bleeding into debts, and the whole thing's about to collapse inward and take the city with it.

"Watch me," I say.

"Jace." She grabs my arm, pulls me around. Her grip's tight enough to bruise. "You take that much weight, you won't walk away. You know that."

"Someone's gotta hold it."

"Then we split it. Three ways." She's close enough now that I can see the smudge of soot on her jaw, the way her pulse jumps in her throat. "Me, you, Ephraim. We can—"

"No." I pry her fingers off. "Your name's already burned. You put more on it and the Quinn house collapses. Ephraim's got a daughter. I got nothing.