Chapter 23 · Blood Don't Lie

"Down!" Cael's hand slammed between my shoulder blades and drove me face-first into the ash.

"Don't you look at it," he hissed against my ear. "Don't you look at that paper right now."

"Get off me!" I shoved at him. The wanted poster was still crumpled in my fist. Elara Voss. Ten years dead. Except not dead. "They're shooting and you want me to drop the only proof my mother—"

"I want you to live long enough to read it!" He yanked me sideways as a Crown stun bolt cracked the wall where my head had been. Brick dust rained down. "Toby, move your ass!"

Toby was already scrambling over a dumpster, his coat flapping. "This was not part of the deal! You said quiet exchange! You said no Crown!"

"Yeah, well, the Crown didn't RSVP!" I shouted. My arm was on fire. Not metaphor. The black lines under my skin were pulsing, crawling up toward my elbow. Every time I clenched that poster, they jumped. "Cael, it's moving again!"

"I know." His fingers locked around my wrist, hard. Not gentle. Possessive. "Don't pull magic. Don't even think about it. You dig, you burn. You get that?"

Another bolt hit.