Chapter 5

"You trying to cut the lock?"

"I'm trying to cut you loose. There's a difference."

"Not with that thing."

She twisted. Cael slammed her hand against the tunnel wall, trapping the cutter between them. Freezing water rushed around their boots. Behind them, the collapsed passage groaned like it was about to give up.

They had maybe a minute before the rest of the ceiling came down.

Cael leaned closer. His breath brushed her cheek.

"Use that blade, and the bond tears us both apart."

"Then stop holding me."

"No."

"That's not your choice."

His eyes dropped to the cutter. "You don't even know what it is."

"I know my mother hid it. I know the Arden family wanted it buried. And I know it reacts to your pulse." Tessa yanked against his grip. "That's enough for me."

His jaw tightened.

Good. She'd hit something.

She drove her shoulder into him. Cael barely moved. Cold metal pressed through her jacket while his body blocked the only dry patch of air. The shared heart-lock pulsed between them—one brutal beat in her chest, another beneath his palm against her ribs.

The connection hated distance.

It hated panic more.

"Move," she snapped.

"Say you won't use it."

"I don't promise things to men who chain my pulse to theirs."

"Then you're staying right here."

A crack split the tunnel overhead. Dust and water rained down.

Cael glanced up.

Tessa drove her knee into his thigh.

He grunted. His grip loosened just enough. She ripped free, ducked beneath his arm, and sprinted toward the narrow service passage on the left.

The cutter's blue edge lit every jagged pipe ahead of her.

"Tessa!"

"Keep up or drown!"

"You can't run with a live pulse blade!"

"Watch me!"

The passage squeezed her shoulders as she forced her way through. Rusted braces scraped her jacket. She climbed over a broken shield conduit while freezing water poured from the ceiling in hard streams.

Behind her, Cael cursed.

Good. Let him suffer.

Then the lock snapped through her chest.

Her knees buckled.

Cael caught her from behind before she hit the floor. One arm locked around her waist. His chest struck her back, heat bleeding through their soaked clothes.

"What did you do?" he asked near her ear.

"Nothing."

"The lock spiked."

"Maybe it doesn't like you."

"It has excellent taste."

She elbowed him. He caught that arm too.

"You think flirting will make me forget you're holding me hostage?"

"I think you talk more when you're scared."

"I talk more when men get stupid."

"Then we're gonna be here all night."

The ceiling gave another ugly groan.

Cael dragged her backward just as the floor ahead dropped away. Concrete broke loose and vanished into black water.

Tessa stared at the gap. Then she looked down at the arm around her waist.

"You knew that was there?"

"I heard the supports fail."

"You could've warned me."

"You were running away with a weapon that can kill us both."

"So you let me almost step into a hole?"

"You didn't step into it."

"Because you grabbed me."

His eyes met hers over her shoulder.

Too close. His damp hair brushed her temple. Water slid from his jaw to his collar, and she hated that she noticed.

"Exactly," he said.

The lock beat again.

Pain tore through both of them. Cael's fingers dug into her side. His face went pale.

"You're bleeding," she said.

"So are you."

She looked at her palm. A thin red line cut across it where the cutter's handle had split her skin.

The blade hummed louder.

It was drinking the blood.

Cael stared at it. "Put it away."

"No."

"Tessa."

"Don't use that voice on me."

"What voice?"

"The one that assumes everybody obeys."

He stepped around her and forced her back against a bent support beam. His palm landed beside her head. He wasn't touching her, but she could feel the heat from his skin through the damp air.

"You think I assume that?" he asked.

"You dragged me out of a black-market cage. You chained my pulse to yours. You keep telling me what I can and can't do." She lifted the cutter between them. "What would you call it?"

"Survival."

"Convenient word."

"Your brother's still missing. The wardens have his name. The syndicate has a price on him. And if I die, your lock burns through your heart before anyone can reach you." His voice sharpened. "So yes. I'm going to tell you not to stab me with a blade you pulled out of a flooded ruin."

The words landed harder than the falling concrete.

Milo. Alive if possible. Broken if not.

Niko's warning still rang in her head.

Tessa tightened her fingers around the cutter. "Don't use Milo against me."

"I'm not using him. I'm reminding you what's at stake."

"You don't know what's at stake."

"I know enough."

"No. You know how to stand in front of a problem and order it to move."

The corner of his mouth almost lifted. "And you know how to pick every lock except the one keeping you alive."

Heat climbed her neck.

She hated that he saw it.

"Say that again," she whispered.

"Which part?"

"The part where you think I need you."

"You do."

He said it quietly. No threat. No smug grin.

That made it worse.

Tessa shoved at his chest. His shirt was cold from the water, but the body beneath it was solid and warm. He caught her hand before she could pull away.

His thumb brushed the cut in her palm.

The cutter flared.

Cael sucked in a breath.

A sharp line of light opened beneath his collar. Not deep. Just enough blood rose to the surface.

Tessa froze.

The blade hadn't touched him.

"I didn't—"

"You did."

"I didn't touch you."

"The lock did."

He released her hand, but his fingers closed around it for one extra second. His pulse thudded against her skin.

Hers answered.

The tunnel shook again.

A metal door at the end of the passage flickered awake. Old shield markings glowed red across its surface.

Cael turned toward it.

"That leads to the core access," he said.

"You can open it?"

"Maybe."

"You said you knew this place."

"I said I knew what it used to be."

"You're the Arden heir, aren't you? Aren't you supposed to know everything?"

He looked back at her. "Who told you that?"

"You just stopped denying it."

"I never confirmed it."

"You didn't have to. The wardens nearly killed three people to get you back. Your family's crest is burned into every shield line down here." She pointed at the door. "And that thing just reacted to you."

"You talk too much."

"You lie too badly."

The red markings brightened. A broken mechanical voice muttered behind the door. The words were too damaged to understand.

Cael moved toward the control plate.

Tessa grabbed the back of his jacket. "Wait."

"Why? Worried I'll get ahead of you?"

"Worried the door's gonna turn you into a corpse."

"That's almost sweet."

"Don't make me ruin it."

He faced her again.

The passage left them barely a handspan apart. His jacket zipper brushed her knuckles. Blue light slid over his face, catching the shadows beneath his eyes.

"You could leave," he said. "The service passage behind you is still open."

"And you?"

"I'll open the door."

"Then what?"

"Then you run."

She stared at him.

"You expect me to believe that?"

"No. I expect you to make your own choice." His gaze held hers. "You like those."

"You don't get points for pretending to be noble."

"Good. I wasn't asking for points."

He turned back to the door.

Tessa saw the tremor in his hand before he placed it against the control plate.

"You're losing control," she said.

"I'm fine."

"Your pulse just skipped."

"So did yours."

"Because you're lying."

"Because you're standing too close."

Her fingers tightened around the cutter.

Cael's eyes dropped to her mouth for half a second.

Then he looked away.

That tiny break in control hit harder than it should've.

"You really are a bastard," she said.

"I've been called worse by better people."

"Your mother?"

His hand stopped above the control plate.

The question slipped out before Tessa could swallow it.

She'd seen the Arden matriarch once, years ago, in a shield-authority broadcast. A woman in white gloves stood behind a wall of golden light while the lower districts lost power.

Tessa's mother vanished two days later.

Cael's expression shut down.

"Don't talk about her."

"Why? Did she teach you that trick? Pretend you can't hear the people screaming?"

"You don't know what happened."

"I know my mother died because your family needed something from her."

The lock slammed through them.

Cael staggered. His shoulder struck the wall.

Tessa caught herself on the beam, clutching her chest. Her heartbeat pounded against his—two rhythms fighting for the same space.

Then a memory flashed through the bond.

A white room.

A woman with dark hair tied at her neck.

Her mother's hand pressed against a metal case.

The vision shattered.

Cael grabbed her face with both hands.

"What did you see?"

His palms burned against her cheeks. His thumbs rested beneath her eyes. Tessa should've shoved him away.

She didn't.

She stayed caught between his arms, staring at the fear he was trying to hide.

"Get off me."

"Answer me."

"You answer first."

"What did you see?"

"A woman."

His grip tightened. "What woman?"

"You know exactly who."

"Tessa."

"Your mother? No. Mine. She was here."

He went still.

The door behind him clicked.

One lock opened.

"How do you know?" he asked.

"Because you saw it too."

"I didn't."

"Liar."

"You were inside my memory."

"Then let me see the rest."

"No."

"Why?"

"Because you won't like what comes next."

She drove the cutter between them.

Cael caught her wrist, but this time he didn't force it down. The blade hovered against the line of blood beneath his collar.

His pulse beat beneath the steel.

The cutter's hum rose until her teeth hurt.

"Move," she said.

"If you cut me, the lock may take your heart with mine."

"Maybe that's the only way out."

"You don't believe that."

"You don't know what I believe."

"I know you're shaking."

"I'm not scared of you."

"I know."

"Then stop looking at me like that."

"Like what?"

"Like you think I won't do it."

His face was inches from hers now. Water dripped from his hair onto her cheek. He didn't wipe it away.

Neither did she.

"I think you want to," he said. "I think you want me dead. I think blaming me is easier than admitting you still miss her."

The cutter slipped a fraction.

Its edge kissed his skin.

A thin red line appeared.

Cael didn't fight.

He didn't even flinch.

His eyes stayed on hers.

"Go on," he whispered. "If you hate me that much, cut deeper."

"Shut up."

"You hate your mother too?"

The question ripped through the tunnel.

Tessa stared at him. "What did you say?"

"You heard me."

"Don't put her in this."

"You already did."

"You don't know anything about her."

"I know she built things she couldn't control. I know she trusted the wrong people. And I know she left that cutter for you instead of destroying it."

Tessa's breath caught. "How do you know that?"

"Because she told me."

Everything inside her locked up.

The heart-lock beat once.

Cael's voice dropped. "She told me to keep you away from the core."

"You met her?"

"Yes."

"When?"

"Before the collapse. Before the wardens. Before your mother disappeared."

The blade pressed harder against his skin.

"You were there when she died."

"No."

"You were there."

"I said no."

"Then tell me what happened."

"Not here."

"You don't get to pick the place."

"I do when the ceiling's coming down."

A brutal crack rolled through the passage.

The support beam behind Tessa split down the center.

Cael shoved her toward the door.

The cutter tore away from his skin as stone crashed between them. Dust burst through the passage. Tessa slammed into the metal door and lost her grip.

The blade skittered across the floor.

"Cael!"

His hand reached through the falling dust. "Run!"

"I'm not leaving you!"

"For once, Tessa, do what I—"