Chapter 10 · The Price of Remembering

"Get your hand off me before I break it!" Nora snapped. Her voice shook, but she didn't pull away.

Kane didn't budge. He yanked her closer, his chest slamming into her shoulder as he shoved her behind a heavy marble pillar.

*Screech.*

A bolt of crimson energy shrieked overhead, pulverizing the stone where her head had been a second ago. Dust and grit rained down on them, tasting like old pennies and ozone.

"Slightly too late for threats, Nora," Kane muttered. His breath was hot against her ear. He didn't move back. He stayed right there, body a shield, heart hammering a frantic rhythm against her spine.

"The whole city knows your name now," he added. "You're not a bounty hunter anymore. You're the most wanted woman in the Crown District."

Nora shoved him, hard. "I told you to take the deal! You could've had your throne back!"

"I don't want a throne built on your head," he shot back. He grabbed her wrist—not cruel, but absolute.

Heat seeped through her sleeve. For a second, the chaotic humming in her veins—that unstable magic that usually felt like broken glass—smoothed out. It stopped screaming. It just...