Chapter 47 · You heard me

"You heard me."

"Careful."

"You're not here for the debt anymore."

The core pulsed.

Kade's knees buckled. His head snapped toward the tunnel's red-lit end, and a thin line of silver spread from his throat to his jaw.

Ayla grabbed his face with both hands. "Kade. Stay with me."

"It knows you," he rasped.

"I know."

"No. You don't."

"Look at me."

"It remembers—"

"Look at me!"

His gaze jerked back.

She saw terror there now. Not fear. Terror. The core had reached through the pact and found something buried under his missing memories.

"What does it remember?" she demanded.

Kade's lips parted. "A child."

"What child?"

"You."

The tunnel lurched.

Ayla's hands slipped from his face. "Me?"

"The mark on your palm. It was there before—"

A support pillar exploded behind them.

Kade grabbed her waist and hauled her across the tracks as stone crashed down. The old rails buckled. A red crack ripped along the tunnel floor, racing toward the city line.

Ayla landed on one knee. Kade fell beside her, his shoulder striking the rail.

"Up," he growled.

"My knee's fine."

"I wasn't asking about your knee."

He caught her hand and pulled her to her feet.