Chapter 3

"It is the only one you're getting while I keep your heart beating."

The collar released with a sharp click.

The pressure vanished.

Sera sucked in air so fast it tore her throat. Kael's thumb stayed under her jaw for one extra second. His skin was hot against the place where the metal had burned her.

Then he pulled away.

The collar display went dark.

Sera shoved him backward and scrambled to her feet. Her legs shook, but they held.

Kael rose more slowly. Blood still marked his upper lip.

Behind him, the guards were forcing their way through the ruined gate.

"You can thank me later," he said.

Sera snatched her knife from the floor. "I can kill you now."

"You can try."

"Don't tempt me."

"I'm not tempting you. I'm telling you what happens next."

He stepped toward the hatch and reached for the wheel.

Sera caught his coat and pulled him back. "You don't get to walk away."

Kael turned. The movement brought them close again, chest to chest. His hand closed around her wrist, not crushing, just firm enough to remind her that he had already stopped her twice.

"You want answers," he said.

"I want the collar off."

"That wasn't the same thing."

"It is tonight."

"The collar is paused, not removed."

Sera's grip tightened on his coat. "How long?"

"Until the next command reaches it."

"From Oren?"

"From the execution network."

"So you saved me for what? A few minutes?"

"I saved you long enough to make a deal."

"I don't make deals with tyrants."

His mouth pulled into a humorless line. "You broke out of a public execution and ran straight into my territory. You don't get to be picky about the company."

"Your territory is a sewer."

"The city above is worse."

"Then take me somewhere useful."

"I am."

He opened the hatch.

Sera saw darkness beyond it and a vertical ladder dropping into the old district. Far below, machinery thudded in the walls. The sound was too deep to be normal transit power.

Something in her chest answered the rhythm.

She gripped the hatch frame. "What is down there?"

Kael looked over his shoulder. "The only place Oren can't reach tonight."

"You keep saying tonight."

"Because tomorrow is a different problem."

The guards shouted. A rifle barrel appeared through the broken gate.

Kael grabbed Sera's hand and pulled her toward the ladder.

She resisted. "Don't touch me."

"Climb."

"Ask nicely."

"Climb, or I carry you."

"Try it and lose the hand."

"There she is."

He shoved her through the hatch just as a shot cracked behind them. The bullet struck the frame. Sera grabbed the ladder and dropped down two rungs.

Kael followed, one hand on the hatch, the other braced above her shoulder.

Their bodies were forced close on the narrow ladder. Her back brushed his chest every time the metal shook. His breath touched the side of her hair.

"You're crowding me," she said.

"You're blocking the ladder."

"I am below you."

"Exactly."

"If you fall on me, I'll break your nose again."

"You already did."

"Then you know I'm consistent."

He dropped past her onto a lower platform and turned, holding out his hand.

Sera stared at it. "No."

"The next rung is broken."

"I can see it."

"Then you can see why you need my hand."

"I need a hand. Not yours."

"We don't have time to shop around."

The collar gave a weak pulse against her throat.

Not active. A warning.

Sera looked at the gap, then at Kael's open palm. He did not rush her. He did not look away either.

"If you drop me," she said, "I'll haunt you."

"You'd have to die first."

"Keep talking like that and I might arrange it."

She took his hand.

His fingers closed around hers immediately. Warm. Steady. His grip pulled her across the broken rung and down beside him.

She let go fast.

Kael noticed. Of course he noticed.

"Don't look so pleased," she said.

"I wasn't."

"Your face did that thing."

"What thing?"

"The thing where you pretend you don't enjoy being right."

"I enjoy being right very openly."

A metal door slammed above them.

The guards had reached the hatch.

Kael moved to the bottom of the ladder and drew a compact pistol from beneath his coat. Sera had not seen it before. He checked the magazine without looking down.

"You came prepared," she said.

"I knew you'd be difficult."

"You knew me?"

His gaze paused on her face. "Everyone knows you."

"That's not what I asked."

"No, it isn't."

The door above rattled. Someone yelled for them to surrender.

Kael pointed toward a second passage. "Move."

Sera did not.

"You know my name," she said. "You know the collar. You know what I can do to metal. How?"

"Because I used to control the systems that built this place."

"Used to?"

"Oren took them when he took my seat."

"You expect me to believe you were some helpless ruler whose city got stolen?"

"I expect you to keep walking while the people who want you dead come down the ladder."

"You don't get to order me around."

"Then consider it a suggestion. A very urgent suggestion."

The metal door buckled inward.

Sera moved.

They ran side by side through the lower passage. Kael stayed slightly behind her, forcing her to take the lead while covering the rear. She hated that it made sense.

The passage narrowed until their shoulders brushed the walls. At the end, a heavy security door blocked the way.

Kael slapped his palm against the control panel.

Nothing happened.

"Open it," Sera said.

"I'm working on it."

"Work faster."

"The old district doesn't recognize my hand anymore."

"Then use mine."

Kael looked at her. "Why?"

"Because the gate listened to me."

"You don't know what you triggered."

"Neither do you."

The guards entered the passage behind them.

Kael stepped in front of Sera. "Stay behind me."

"No."

"This isn't a debate."

"Everything with me is a debate."

"Sera."

He said it like a command this time. Low. Sharp.

She felt the old instinct to obey rise from somewhere she did not trust. It made her furious.

She shoved past him and placed her hand on the panel.

The metal turned cold beneath her palm.

A blue ring appeared around her fingers.

Kael caught her elbow. "Take your hand off."

"Why?"

"Because the door is reading you."

"Maybe it likes me."

"It doesn't like anyone."

The panel clicked.

A line of text flashed across its surface.

ACCESS REQUESTED.

Sera's breath caught.

Another line appeared.

LIFE-LINK COMPATIBILITY: UNSTABLE.

Kael went still.

"What does that mean?" she asked.

"Keep your hand there."

"You just told me to take it off."

"I changed my mind."

"You don't get to do that without explaining."