Chapter 13 · The Second Heart

"Get your hand off that glass!" Cael slammed into Tessa before her fingers touched the glowing wall.

His arm locked around her waist. His other hand caught her wrist and dragged it against his chest. Heat punched through her sleeve. His heartbeat kicked beneath her palm—hard, uneven, desperate.

Inside the core, Mara lifted her head.

"Tessa?" Her voice crackled through the glass. "Don't let it take your pulse."

Tessa stopped fighting for half a second.

Then she drove her elbow into Cael's ribs.

He grunted. His hold didn't loosen. "I said don't touch it."

"And I said get off me!"

"You wanna die faster? Keep struggling."

The light behind the glass flared.

White lines shot across the chamber floor and climbed Tessa's boots. The core had noticed her.

It had noticed her heartbeat.

One pulse.

The floor flashed.

Two.

Metal snapped tight beneath her feet.

Three.

A ring of symbols clamped around her ankles.

Tessa looked down. "Cael."

"I see it."

"Then fix it!"

"I'm trying to keep it from fixing you to the floor."

He shoved her backward. Her shoulders hit his chest.