Chapter 21 · He pushed up on one elbow. Blood ran from his cheek to his jaw

She snatched for the page.

The grid flared red.

Calder pulled her back, but the page tore free and skidded across the floor. It landed on the dark patch beside the map.

The proof was out of reach.

A ring of red light snapped up between them.

Mara and Calder were thrown apart.

The bond stretched from wrist to wrist, bright and thin. Pain shot through Mara's arm. Her knees hit the stone.

Calder crashed into the far wall.

"Calder!"

He pushed up on one elbow. Blood ran from his cheek to his jaw.

"Stay there," he ordered.

"You stay there."

"The grid is splitting us."

"I noticed."

More red lines rose between them, forming a cage. Calder was trapped on one side. Mara was trapped on the other, with the audit record at her feet and the living map behind the kill-grid.

The bond burned hotter.

Mara gritted her teeth. "What happens if we get too far apart?"

"Our bones start breaking."

"You could've mentioned that sooner."

"You didn't ask."

"I am asking now."

"Then stop moving away from me."

A line snapped down between their bodies.

Calder rolled aside.