Chapter 5

"I'm not shaking. I'm vibrating with the urge to kill you," I spat.

I shoved him. Hard. My palms hit his chest, and I felt it—the steady, terrifying thrum of his heart.

*Snap.*

A jolt of static electricity surged between us. My vision blurred. Then, for the first time in years, the screaming gold light in my veins went dead silent. The noise in my head just... stopped.

Kane stiffened. His grip on my wrist tightened. Not to hurt, but to hold.

"See?" he murmured. "You're a broken lock, Nora. I'm the only key that doesn't snap in the door."

"I don't need anything from a royal traitor," I hissed. But I didn't pull away. I couldn't. The silence in my mind was a drug, and I was suddenly starving for it.

He chuckled, a low vibration in his throat. "Traitor? That's rich. You just signed a soul-debt contract with a broker. You're not a bounty hunter anymore, sweetheart. You're a prize."

I froze. "What?"

"Silas told the whole city you're the second key," Kane said, leaning in until his nose brushed mine. "You're the most expensive thing in this slum right now. And assets get collected."

*Thud.*

Heavy boots hit the alley entrance. Three men in royal guard armor stepped in, visors down, spears leveled.

"By order of the Crown and Broker Vorn," the lead guard barked. "Nora Vey is to be detained. The fugitive Rook is to be executed on sight."

I glanced at Kane. He looked bored.

"Told you," he whispered. "Now, do you want to die for a broker who doesn't even know your middle name, or do you want to find out what's in that ledger?"

"I hate you,"\ I whispered.

"Get in line."

Kane stepped in front of me, his shoulders blocking the guards' view. "Hey! Tin cans! You want the girl? You'll have to peel me off her first. And trust me, I'm very clingy."

"Step aside, fugitive!" the guard roared, lunging forward.

Kane didn't flinch. He reached back, his fingers locking with mine.

The second our skin met, the golden surge returned. But it didn't tear at my insides this time. It flowed. Like a river breaking a dam.

I didn't think. I just reacted. I slammed my free hand into the cobblestones.

*BOOM.*

A shockwave of raw magic ripped through the ground. The guards were tossed backward like ragdolls, armor clattering against the walls. Dust choked the air.

"Holy shit," I gasped, leaning against the wall. My lungs felt like they'd been scrubbed with sandpaper. "What did you do?"

"I didn't do anything," Kane said, smirking. "I just stabilized the leak. You did the heavy lifting. But look at your hand, Nora."

I looked down. My fingertips were charred black.

Then I felt it. A void. A jagged hole in my mind where a memory used to be. I tried to reach for it—the image of my mother's face, the smell of the bakery on 4th street—and found nothing. Just white noise.

"What happened?" my voice sounded small.

"The ledger," Kane said, pulling the heavy, leather-bound book from his coat. "Your magic can strip the royal encryption. But the book doesn't take gold as payment. It takes memories. Every page you open... it eats a piece of you."

I stared at the silver clasps. It looked like a parasite.

"I can't," I said. "I can't just forget who I am."

"You're already forgetting," he countered, his voice losing the playfulness. "That blast just cost you a childhood memory. Either we use the ledger to save your brother, or you keep blasting guards until there's nothing left of your brain but static."

My brother's soul was in a jar in Silas's office. I didn't have time to be sentimental.

"Give it to me," I demanded.

Kane held it just out of reach. "Deal first. I protect you, you unlock the book. In exchange, you help me burn Silas's network to the ground."

"You're asking me to commit treason."

"I'm asking you to stop being a pawn."

He stepped closer, the distance between us vanishing. I could smell the metallic tang of his blood-mark—ozone and old coins. He reached out, his thumb grazing my jawline. A shiver ran down my spine that had nothing to do with magic.

"You're a fighter, Nora. Stop pretending you enjoy being the help."

I slapped his hand away, but the spark was still there. "Fine. Deal. Now give me the damn book."

He handed it over with a grin. I gripped the cover, and the moment I touched the silver clasp, the book shrieked. A mental scream that nearly knocked me flat.

*Tug.*

Something was ripped from the back of my skull. I gasped, clutching my head. My first dog. The color of my first front door. Gone. Snatched away.

But the book opened.

Pages flipped violently. Blood-red ink swirled into a map and a list of names.

"What does it say?" Kane asked, leaning over my shoulder. His chest pressed against my back, his warmth grounding me as the world spun.

I squinted. "It's a list of anchors. Points of power that keep the royal seal intact. If we break them, we break the city's core."

"Which one is closest?" he whispered, his breath ghosting over my neck.

I traced the ink. My heart stopped.

"The royal prison," I read. "The one beneath the palace."

Kane stiffened. "That's not a prison. That's a tomb."

"Then that's where we're going."

*Clang. Clang. Clang.*

Iron scraping on stone echoed through the alley. Not guards. Something bigger.

"Sewer-born," Kane muttered, his hand sliding to his blade. "Silas didn't just send the law. He sent the dogs."

A massive, pale shape emerged from the darkness. Yellow eyes. A maw dripping with black corrosive slime.

"You're telling me we're fighting a giant sewer rat now?" I asked, my hands beginning to glow.

"Not a rat," Kane said, stepping in front of me, his voice dropping to a dangerous low. "A collector. And it's not here for the book."

The creature roared, a sound that shook the walls, and leaped.

"Kane!" I yelled.

He didn't move. He just smiled.

"Hold on tight, Nora," he said, "this is about to get—"