Chapter 7 · Hounds Under the Clocktower

The vow mark burned all the way to the clocktower.

Nia pressed her wrist against her ribs but the heat didn't stop. It pulsed like a second heartbeat, dragging her east through alleys that smelled like rust and wet stone. Julian walked ahead, not limping anymore. The curse lines on his neck had stopped crawling. He looked alive again. That should've made her feel better. It didn't.

Sera limped behind them, one hand pressed to her side where the tracking dart had gone in. She hadn't said a word since they left the chapel. Her jaw was locked tight and her eyes kept flicking to Nia's wrist.

"You hear that?" Sera said.

Nia stopped. Listened.

Nothing. Just wind through broken windows and the distant hum of the docks.

"I don't—"

"Exactly." Sera's voice was flat. "No rats. No gulls. Not even the junkies who usually camp under the bridge."

Julian didn't turn around. "The Court cleared the perimeter."

"Or something else did," Sera muttered.

Nia's mark flared hot again and she sucked in a breath. Julian glanced back. His eyes dropped to her wrist, then away.

"How much farther?" Nia asked.

"Two blocks."

She could see the clocktower now.