Chapter 33 · The Whole City Wakes

"Say it again."

Calder's claws dug into the stone floor. The ward-core pulsed between us, throwing light across his face in sick, uneven beats. Every pulse made the cuff burn hotter.

"I can't." My throat closed around the second syllable. The name sat on my tongue like broken glass.

"You have to." He wasn't looking at me. His eye was locked on the core, on the fracture lines spreading through its surface like cracks in ice. "Mara. You have to finish it."

The clock tower outside struck eleven-thirty.

Half an hour.

I tried to stand. My legs folded. The cuff yanked me sideways and I hit the floor hard, tasting copper. Calder caught my arm before my head cracked stone.

"Don't." His hand was shaking. "Don't move. The bind's already—"

"Already killing us, yeah, I noticed." I shoved his hand off and dragged myself upright. The room spun. The core's light split into doubles, triples, a dozen overlapping images that made my stomach lurch. "So let's finish the damn spell."

"You don't understand." His voice dropped. "If you say the rest of it and the core rejects it, the backlash will stop your heart."

"Then it better not reject it."