Chapter 2

"You are welcome to stand by yourself."

"I mean it."

"So do I. If you collapse, I lose the bounty."

He turned his head. His mouth was close enough that she felt the rough edge of his breath.

"That is all I am to you? Twelve thousand crowns?"

"Right now? Yes."

"And if I told you Meridian will erase your brother's soul record whether you deliver me or not?"

Her grip tightened on his coat.

"I would tell you to stop talking."

"Why? Because you think I am lying?"

"Because I am deciding how much it will hurt when I break your fingers."

His gaze dropped to her hand, then returned to her eyes.

"You are scared."

"You are bleeding silver. Everybody should be scared."

"No. You are scared for your brother."

Ayla shoved him away.

He caught her wrist again.

This time, blue light jumped between their hands.

The corridor vanished.

Ayla saw a tower collapsing into a red-lit district. People ran below. A child pressed both hands against a glass wall. Someone shouted her name.

Then the vision snapped apart.

She slammed back into the corridor with Kade's fingers around her wrist and his face inches from hers.

"What did you do?" she whispered.

Kade looked worse than before. His pupils had narrowed to black points.

"Nothing."

"I saw the east district burning."

"Then you saw the future."

"That was not an answer."

"It was the only one you are getting."

A siren screamed somewhere above them.

More boots pounded through the upper stairwell.

Ayla tore her wrist free and reached inside her coat. Her debt knife slid into her palm, its edge glowing with a pale blue line.

Kade watched the blade. "You are going to stab me now?"

"I am considering it."

"If you cut the mark, the core breaks loose."

"You keep saying that like I care."

"You care about the city."

"I care about my brother."

"Same problem."

"Do not pretend you know me."

Kade stepped toward her.

The narrow corridor left them almost no room. His shoulder brushed hers. She could feel the heat of him through her sleeve, the hard rhythm of his pulse where his coat had torn open.

"I know your mark," he said.

Ayla kept the knife between them. "You have never seen it."

"I felt it."

"That is not how soul-marks work."

"It is how mine works."

"You are not a debt hunter. You are a carrier."

"And you are not just a debt hunter."

"Careful."

"Your mark is old. Older than your brother's debt. Older than the city registry. Somebody put a lock on your soul before you were old enough to sign anything."

The knife dipped half an inch.

Kade noticed.

Of course he noticed.

"You know who did it?" she asked.

"No."

"You know what it does?"

"It keeps the core from killing me."

"Then why is it failing?"

His jaw flexed. "Because somebody is pulling on the other end."

The stairwell door shook.

A voice shouted, "Kade Rook! Drop the hunter and get on your knees!"

Kade looked past Ayla at the door. "They are not here for a recovery."

"You finally figured that out?"

"They want the core to break."

"Why?"

"Because the blast will power every Meridian tower for a year."

Ayla stared at him. "You are telling me they chased you through a debt office because they want to use your death as a battery?"

"That is the short version."

"I hate the short version."

"Then help me live long enough to give you the ugly one."

"What do I get?"

"A chance to save your brother."

"That is not payment. That is bait."

"It can be both."

The stairwell door exploded inward.

Ayla threw her hand toward the opening. Every soul-mark in the first wave of enforcers lit at once. Red debt-lines crawled up their faces. Their bodies locked in place.

Kade grabbed her elbow and pulled her through a side door.

"What are you doing?" she snapped.

"Saving your life."

"I had it handled."

"You were about to burn through six active marks."

"I could have held them."

"For four seconds."

"Five."

"That is not better."

They stumbled into an old maintenance shaft. The door slammed behind them. Kade shoved a rusted bar through the handles, then leaned against it while the first blows struck from the other side.

Ayla pressed the blade under his chin.

"You dragged me into a dead end."

"It is not dead."

"There is a wall behind you."

"Walls can be useful."

"Are you always this irritating when you are dying?"

"Usually I am worse."

His hand moved toward his chest.

Ayla caught it. "Do not touch the mark."

"It is splitting."

"I can see that."

"If it opens, you need to get away from me."

"You keep telling me to leave."

"You keep refusing."

"You are my bounty."

"You are an idiot."

"You are the one holding a knife to a dying man's throat."

"And yet you are the one asking me for help."

The maintenance shaft jolted as the enforcers hit the door again.

Kade's knees buckled.

Ayla caught him by the front of his shirt and shoved him against the wall. "Stay up."

"Bossy."

"Alive."

"You like giving orders."

"I like people following them."

His breath dragged across her knuckles. His face was close, too close, and his eyes stayed on hers instead of the knife.

"You should be afraid of me," he said.

"I am afraid of what happens if you die. Do not confuse the two."

"You felt the vision."

"I saw a district burn."

"You saw what is under this city."

"Stop talking in riddles."

"Then take the debt."

Ayla laughed once. It came out hard and humorless. "You want me to bind myself to a man Meridian calls a vessel?"

"I want you to keep my heart from opening."

"And what do you want in return?"

"You already know."

"Say it."

"Your mark."

Her smile disappeared.

"No."

"You can see soul-debts. I can hear fear through the lock. Together, we can control the core."

"You can hear fear?"

"Yours is loud."

She pressed the knife harder beneath his jaw. "Say that again."

"You are afraid I am telling the truth."

"I am afraid your blood is going to ruin my coat."

"Liar."

The word landed between them.

Ayla's fingers tightened around the handle. "You do not get to call me that."

"You do not get to pretend this is only about money."

"It is about money. My brother's legal identity costs money. His medicine costs money. His right to exist costs money. That is how this city works."

"Then let me buy him a life."

"With what? Your corpse?"

"With the thing trying to break out of my chest."

"That is not reassuring."

"I never promised reassuring."

The door groaned.

Ayla glanced at the bar. It had started to bend.

Kade followed her eyes. "We have less than a minute."

"You said six seconds before."

"That was before I used the core."

"You should have led with that."

"You were busy threatening me."

"I can multitask."