Chapter 4

"You first."

"Tessa."

"That tone doesn't work on me." She twisted against his grip. "Try begging."

Metal shrieked behind them.

Niko glanced over his shoulder. Three wardens were forcing their way through the service passage. White masks flashed beneath the emergency strips. One raised a pulse rifle. Another dragged a hooked chain built to tear Cael apart.

"Cute reunion," Niko said. "Do it faster."

Tessa pressed the charge harder into Cael's side. "The core is behind this gate?"

"Yes."

"And the thing that killed my mother?"

Cael's jaw locked. "Also yes."

The answer hit harder than the gunfire.

Tessa stared at him. "You knew."

"I knew the shield core was here. I didn't know your mother built the cutter until Niko found the file."

"You knew enough to bring me."

"I brought you because you're the only person who can open it."

"Wrong answer."

She drove her knee into his thigh.

Cael grunted, but his grip only tightened. His chest brushed hers. Hot breath touched the side of her face, uneven and close enough to make her skin prickle.

"Break my leg," he said, "and you still need me standing."

"What if I break your nose? Still think you can order me around?"

"Probably."

"I hate when you say things like that."

"You hate that I'm usually right."

A rifle cracked.

Blue energy splashed across the gate. Sparks jumped over Tessa's shoulder and burned through the air beside Cael's head.

Niko ducked. "Argue after we're not being shot!"

Tessa ripped her hand free and slapped the charge into the lock.

Click.

Click.

Nothing.

"Come on," she hissed.

Cael stepped in behind her. Too close. His arm locked around her waist, keeping her upright while the heartlock pulled tight across both their chests.

"Move," he said near her ear.

"Touch me again and I swear—"

"The lock reads two heartbeats. It won't open unless we're connected."

"We are connected. That's the problem."

"Then stop fighting it for three seconds."

"You first."

His fingers tightened against her coat. "Tessa, the next shot hits the charge. If it blows, you won't have a heart left to argue with me."

That shut her up.

For three seconds, she let herself feel him.

The hard line of his chest against her back. The rough drag of his breath. The frantic beat under his ribs, trapped against hers through the lock.

Cael lowered his hand over hers.

"Breathe with me."

"Don't make this sound intimate."

"I wasn't trying to."

"Liar."

"Count."

"One."

Their pulses struck together.

"Two."

The charge flashed red.

"Three."

The gate unlocked with a blast of cold air.

Cael shoved Tessa through first. Niko followed, dragging the gate shut behind them. The rifle fired again, but the metal slammed down in time. Blue light burned across the other side.

"That won't hold," Niko said.

"It only has to hold until we reach the core," Cael said.

Tessa spun on him. "You don't get to say that like you know what comes next."

"I do know."

"Then tell me."

"The core is unstable. Someone's been draining it."

"Who?"

Cael looked past her, toward the tunnel dropping into darkness. "My family."

Niko swore. "You said the Ardens lost control of the lower grid."

"I said they claimed they had."

Tessa grabbed Cael's coat and dragged him down until their faces were inches apart. His breath caught against her mouth. His eyes stayed on hers, gray and sharp beneath the flickering lights.

"My mother died trying to cut this thing loose," Tessa said. "Did your family send her in?"

His expression didn't move. His hand settled over hers, not stopping her. Just holding on.

"She went in because I asked her to."

The tunnel tilted beneath Tessa's boots.

Her fingers tightened in his coat. "You asked her?"

"I was seventeen. I thought I could stop my father from using the lower city as a power sink. Your mother built a cutter. I needed it."

"And she died."

"Yes."

"Because of you."

"Yes."

No excuse. No careful lie. Just the word between them, sharp as a blade.

Tessa hit him.

Cael let her.

The slap cracked through the tunnel. His head turned with it. When he looked back, blood marked the corner of his mouth.

"That was for bringing me here," she said.

"Fair."

She hit him again.

"That was for knowing."

"Also fair."

Her hand shook before she lowered it. The heartlock pulled tight, heat stabbing behind her sternum.

Cael caught her fingers. This time, he didn't squeeze.

"If you want me dead, wait six days," he said. "Until we can break the lock without taking you with me."

"You keep saying six days like it's a promise."

"It's a limit."

"Same thing when you're desperate."

A boom rolled through the gate behind them. Dust rained from the ceiling.

Niko pointed down the tunnel. "Move. Now."

They ran.

The passage narrowed fast. Tessa turned sideways around broken braces, one hand scraping the wall while the other stayed locked with Cael's. Whenever they separated more than a few feet, pain snapped through both of them. The lock punished distance. It punished silence, too.

Cael stopped answering.

Tessa's heart kicked hard enough to steal her breath. "Still alive?"

"Unfortunately."

"Good. I have more questions."

"Ask while running."

"Why did my mother trust you?"

Cael vaulted a fallen beam. "She didn't."

Tessa climbed after him. "Then why help you?"

"She trusted what I was trying to stop."

"That's not an answer."

"It was the only one she gave me."

A warden shouted behind them. The gate buckled.

Niko fired over his shoulder. "Less family history, more legs!"

The tunnel floor dropped without warning.

Tessa slipped. Cael caught the back of her coat, but the force dragged him down with her. They hit the stone together, his shoulder taking most of the impact.

"Get off me," she snapped.

"You landed on me."

"You caught me."

"You're welcome."

"I didn't say thank you."

His face was close. She could see the small cut beneath his eye and the blood drying at his mouth. His breath warmed her cheek. For half a second, neither of them moved.

Then the heartlock beat.

Once.

Twice.

Cael's expression broke. His eyes went dark as a violent pulse rolled through the tunnel.

The walls shuddered.

"Cael," Tessa said.

"Get back."

"What did you do?"

"Nothing."

The stone beneath them split.

Cael shoved her toward Niko. "Run!"

"You said you could control it!"

"I said I could try!"

A blast tore through the passage. Tessa slammed into the wall. Niko caught her collar and hauled her behind a support column as the ceiling came down.

Cael stood in the middle of the tunnel with both hands raised. Blue-white power twisted around his arms. It didn't look like light. It looked like the city grid had been ripped open and forced through him.

"Cael!" Tessa shouted.

He turned his head. "Don't come closer."

"You don't get to give me that order."

"For once, listen."

"Not happening."

She pushed away from the column.

Cael's power slammed into the floor between them. The impact threw her back. Niko caught her before her skull hit stone.

"He's losing it," Niko said.

"No kidding."

"If he blows the tunnel, we all die."

"Then help me pull him out."

"How?"

Tessa raised their joined hands. The black mark around her wrist pulsed in time with Cael's chest.

"The same way we pulled him back from the raider."

Niko stared at her. "You mean touch him?"

"I mean shut up and cover me."

She stepped into the storm.

The force hit like a wall. Her boots slid across the stone. Cael's face twisted as he fought the current, blood running from his nose.

"Stop fighting me!" she yelled.

"I'm fighting the power!"

"Then fight better!"

"Get out of here!"

"You first!"

She reached him and caught his face between her hands.

His skin burned beneath her palms. His breath broke against her fingers. Their foreheads knocked together when the pulse surged, and pain flashed through her chest.

"Look at me," she said.

"Tessa—"

"Look at me, damn it."

His eyes found hers.

The power bucked.

She felt his heartbeat inside her own chest. Not like a memory. Like something trapped and fighting to get out.

"You don't get to die," she whispered. "Not until I decide what you owe me."

Cael's mouth tightened. "You really know how to make a man feel safe."

"Are you safe?"

"No."

"Good. Stay with me."

The current broke.

Cael dropped to one knee. Tessa went down with him, still holding his face. For one breath, his forehead rested against hers. His whole body shook beneath her hands.

"You pulled me back," he said.

"Don't sound impressed."

"I am."

"Don't be."

"You're scared."

She shoved him away. "Keep talking and I'll give you something else to be scared of."

The ceiling cracked again.

Niko pointed toward a rusted door at the end of the passage. "Core access! Move!"

They ran.

The tunnel collapsed behind them. Stone thundered down. Water burst through the walls in a black, freezing sheet.

Tessa reached the door just before the flood hit.

Cael slammed his hand against the access plate. The door opened three inches, then jammed.

"It's stuck," he said.

"You can tear through a shield wall, but not a door?"

"The flood's pushing from the other side."

Niko grabbed the handle. "Then pull!"

All three strained against it. Water climbed past Tessa's knees, dragging chunks of rock and twisted metal through the passage. Behind the collapse, the wardens shouted.

"Open the door!" one yelled. "Arden, surrender and the girl lives!"

Cael looked at Tessa. "They'll kill you first."

"I figured that out when they started shooting."

"I can hold the passage."

"No."

"Tessa."

"No. Whatever you're planning, don't."

He caught both sides of her face, forcing her eyes back to his. Water tugged at their legs. His wet hair clung to his brow. His thumb brushed her cheek once, quick and careful.

That tiny touch hit harder than it should have.

"You need to get inside," he said.

"We both do."

"The core will answer you. It won't answer me."

"Why?"

"Your mother made it that way."

The door groaned another inch.

Niko shoved his shoulder into the gap. "Stop whispering and get through!"

Cael pushed Tessa toward the opening.

She caught the doorframe. "You're coming with me."

"I can't."

"That's not a choice."

"It is when I'm the only one who can keep the tunnel from taking you with it."

A violent surge slammed into his back. Cael staggered, then planted both feet. Blue power burst across his arms.

The flood stopped climbing.

Tessa stared at him. "What did you just do?"

"Spent the last shield charge."

"You said the core needed it."

"It needs you more."

"Cael, get inside!"

"Go!"

"I'm not leaving you!"

A strained smile touched his mouth. There was no warmth in it. "You already told me you wanted me dead. This is the part where you get your wish."

"Don't you dare."

The water surged again.

Cael's knees buckled.

Tessa reached for him, but Niko seized her around the waist and dragged her through the opening.

"Let me go!"

"If you go back, you drown with him!"

"Then open the door!"

"It's locked from the inside!"

Cael's hand struck the frame. His fingers closed around hers for one last second.

Heat flashed between their palms.

"Tessa," he said, his voice rough. "Find the cutter."

"I won't use it on you."

His eyes held hers through the widening black water. "You don't know what it does."

"Then tell me!"

"I can't—"

The flood tore him away.

His fingers slipped from hers.

The door slammed shut.

Tessa screamed his name and attacked the lock with both hands. The metal wouldn't move. The heartlock around her wrist burned once, then went cold.

No pulse.

No Cael.

Niko dragged her back as the ceiling gave another violent shake. "The lock's gone cold. That means—"