"Drop the seal, Rook, or I break your hand." Mara Voss drove his wrist against the brick wall hard enough to rattle the stolen metal disk between his fingers.
Calder Rook smiled like she had made a charming mistake.
"You always start with threats?"
"Only when the evidence is this obvious."
"The evidence," he said, glancing at her badge, "is that you chased me through three districts, kicked in a locked door, and put my arm behind my back. Your exile didn't make you less dramatic."
Mara twisted his wrist another inch. His smile cracked.
"Say that again."
"I said—"
A bolt punched through the wall beside her head.
Mara ducked. Calder yanked free at the same time, and their shoulders slammed together as a second bolt tore through the doorway. The stolen seal dropped from his hand and clanged across the floor.
"That wasn't my backup," Mara said.
"You brought backup?"
"I brought cuffs."
"Then we're both disappointed."
Boots thundered outside the room. More than four sets. Rune-police armor scraped against the narrow doorway, and a voice shouted through the hall.
"Calder Rook! Step away from the seal and put your hands where we can see them!"
Mara grabbed Calder by the collar and shoved him behind a stack of broken crates.
"Stay down."
"You say that like I enjoy getting shot at."
"You steal a living city seal, then complain about the welcome?"
"I didn't steal it. I borrowed it."
"You cracked the vault."
"Borrowed it aggressively."
The door exploded inward.
Mara rolled behind the crates as three guards rushed in with rune-burners raised. Blue-white symbols crawled over their gauntlets, each one designed to lock magic in place. She had written half those arrest protocols before the council stripped her title and sent her beyond the city walls.
The first guard spotted Calder.
"On your knees!"
Calder leaned around the crate. "Can I negotiate?"
"No."
"Worth asking."
The guard fired.
Mara shoved Calder down before the rune-bolt hit him. It flashed over her shoulder and burst against the far wall. Heat slapped her cheek. Calder landed beneath her, one hand catching her waist to keep her from cracking her skull on the floor.
His palm was warm through her coat.
Too warm.
"Get off me," she snapped.
"You landed on me."
"Then stop being under me."
"I'll put that on my list."
She elbowed him in the ribs and scrambled up. He swore, but he was already moving. Calder kicked a crate into the guards. Wood split. One guard went down with a curse.
Mara reached for the seal.
The instant her fingers touched its edge, a black line opened across the metal.
Not a crack. A mouth.
The seal snapped shut around her finger.
Pain shot up her arm.
"Mara!" Calder caught her elbow. "Let go!"
"I am trying!"
The seal tore free from the floor and dragged her across the stones. Calder seized her around the waist. His chest hit her back, solid and close, his breath hot against the side of her neck.
"Tell me what it's doing," he said.
"It's choosing."
"Choose someone else."
"It's a city seal, not a dog."
The black line widened. A thin strand of red light whipped from the disk and wrapped around Mara's wrist.
Then it struck Calder.
The chain appeared between them in a burst of white fire.
Mara screamed and grabbed his coat. Calder's hand locked around her shoulder. The magic pulled them in opposite directions, dragging their bodies apart with enough force to bend the iron hinge on the nearest door.
Their bones creaked.
"Don't let go!" Calder shouted.
"I wasn't planning to!"
"You said you wanted me in cuffs!"
"I changed my mind!"
The chain tightened.
Mara's knees hit the floor. Calder dropped beside her, their wrists bound by a glowing length of red-black magic. His fingers dug into hers. She could feel his pulse against her skin, fast and hard.
A guard stepped over the broken crate.
"What in the—"
Mara slammed her free hand against the guard's rune-burner.
Her gift answered before she could think.
Magic peeled apart under her palm.
The blue symbols on the weapon unraveled into loose sparks. The guard stared at the dead burner. Mara twisted, drove her shoulder into his chest, and sent him crashing into the wall.
Calder looked at her hand.
"You can dismantle active runes."
"You can recognize magic."
"I recognize expensive problems."
"You're the expensive problem."
"And you're still holding my hand."
Mara looked down.
She was.
She released him so quickly their joined wrists snapped together. Pain flared through both of them. Calder caught her before she fell, his arm sliding around her back.
"Easy," he said.
"Don't tell me to be easy."
"Fine. Fall harder."
The remaining guards recovered. One raised a hooked blade marked with a binding rune.
"The seal has linked them," the guard said. "Take both alive."
"That sounds bad," Calder muttered.
"It's worse for you."
"You keep saying things that make me feel special."
Mara pulled him toward the rear wall. "Move."
"Where?"
"There."
"That's a wall."
"You noticed."
She pressed her palm against a thin line of gray mortar. Her fingers found the hidden ward beneath it. Old city wards. Cheap, ugly, and built by people who thought nobody would ever bother looking closely.
Mara smiled without meaning to.
Calder saw it. "That look usually means property damage."
"Good. You learn fast."
She broke the ward.
The wall folded inward.
Calder dragged her through the opening as rune-bolts tore over their heads. They stumbled into a narrow maintenance shaft, shoulder to shoulder, the chain between them glowing like a hot wire.
Behind them, the guards shouted.
"Seal the exits!"
"They're in the old service runs!"
"Don't let them separate!"
Calder pulled a small brass key from his sleeve and shoved it into a rusted panel. The panel clicked open, revealing a ladder dropping into darkness.
Mara caught his hand before he climbed.
"You knew this passage was here."
"I knew several passages were here."
"You planned the escape before you took the seal."
"I planned an escape before I took the seal. The part where you joined me was a surprise."
"I didn't join you. I arrested you."
"You're welcome to keep telling yourself that."
She shoved him down the ladder.
The chain jerked.
Her shoulder slammed into the wall when Calder dropped two rungs. He looked up at her through the dim red light, one hand braced above his head.
"Careful," he said. "That thing reacts when we get too far apart."
"How far?"
"Far enough to hurt."
"Specific."
"I was busy being chased."
Mara climbed down. The shaft was too narrow. Her knee brushed his thigh. His coat smelled like smoke, metal, and something warm she refused to identify. He shifted to give her space, but there wasn't any. His hand settled at her waist when the ladder shook.
"Don't touch me."
"Then stop slipping."
"I'm not slipping."
"Your boot is on my foot."
She glanced down.
It was.
"Your foot was in the way."
"I see. The ladder attacked you."
"Keep talking and I'll make sure it attacks you next."
A guard struck the wall above them. The entire shaft rang.
Calder's grip tightened around her waist. His mouth came close to her ear.
"Quiet."
Mara felt his breath against her skin. Every muscle in her body went still, but not because he told her to.
"You don't get to order me around," she whispered.
"Right now, I do. They hear us, they cut the chain, and we both find out what broken bones feel like."
"You could have led them away."
"And leave you holding the seal? No."
"You don't trust me."
"I don't trust anyone wearing a city badge."
"I don't wear one anymore."
His eyes dropped to the old silver clasp at her collar, the one she had kept even after the council took her official badge.
"You keep the badge piece," he said. "Why?"
"So I can remember what it felt like to have a job."
"I heard you were fired for destroying an innocent man's life."
Mara's fingers tightened around the ladder rung.
"You heard wrong."
"Then tell me right."
"You first. Why steal the seal?"
Calder's jaw worked once. "Because the guard was going to use it."
"For what?"
"You ask a lot of questions for someone who keeps trying to stab me."
"You dodge a lot of questions for someone trapped on a ladder with me."
His mouth tilted again, but the joke didn't reach his eyes.
"Keep climbing, Auditor."
"Don't call me that."