Chapter 28 · The Last Death Debt

"You need to kill me," Iris said.

I stepped back. "What?"

"You heard me." She was already pulling her sleeve up, exposing the inside of her wrist. The blood debt mark crawled under her skin like a living thing, black lines spreading up her forearm. "Mara's gone. The curse jumped to you. Now you finish it."

"By taking your death?"

"By taking what's mine." She moved closer. I didn't move back this time. "The ledger's open, Cade. Seven deaths. Seven powers. You shoved them all in there when you tore your name out. But it's not balanced. Not yet."

I could feel the ledger in my chest, a weight that hadn't been there before. Every power I'd burned through was trapped inside it now, coiled tight, waiting. Fire. Teleportation. Mind-reading. All the ones that had split me open and stitched me back wrong.

"What happens if I don't?"

"Then the debt stays on you. Forever. You'll loop until you break, and when you do, you won't be Cade anymore. You'll be what Mara wanted. A weapon with no leash."

Her hand was shaking. Just slightly. Enough that I noticed.

"There's another way," I said.

"There isn't."

"Yeah, there is.