Chapter 10 · Down the Blackwater Run

"Stop shaking or I’ll tie your ankles together too," Mara snapped, her voice echoing off the damp stone walls.

Lucan didn't stop shaking. He leaned against the slime-slicked masonry of the Blackwater Run, his breath coming in jagged hitches. The curse was humming under his skin again—a low, vibrating hunger that made the air around him taste like ozone and old copper.

"I can't... I can't hold it back here," he rasped. He looked at her, eyes dark and blown wide, the pupils swallowing the iris. "The magic in these pipes is stagnant. It’s like drinking sewage. It’s making the core restless."

Mara stepped closer, her boots splashing in the ankle-deep sludge. She didn't offer a comforting hand. Instead, she grabbed the collar of his damp shirt and yanked him upright.

"Then starve," she hissed. "We have six hours before the tide turns and seals this exit. If we're still in the Run when that happens, we aren't just trapped—we're drowned. Move."

Lucan let out a sharp, dry laugh that sounded more like a cough. "You're remarkably bossy for someone whose brother is currently a bargaining chip for the woman who wants me dead.