Chapter 4

"Use two fingers. Slowly."

"You really know how to ruin a man's evening."

He pulled out a flat black disc wrapped in red cloth. The cloth was scorched at the edges. Under it, something clicked like a living heartbeat.

Mara's magic reacted at once. The disc tugged against her fingers before she even touched it.

"That's the seal," she said.

"Part of it."

"Part?"

"The city seal was split three hundred years ago. One half stays under the council hall. The other half moves when the city is in danger."

"You expect me to believe the city's most protected artifact has been wandering through back alleys?"

"I expect you to believe what your hand is telling you."

Mara took the disc.

Pain snapped up her arm. The black line around her wrist flared, and Calder sucked in a breath at the same time.

They were connected. Not just by distance. By sensation.

She felt the hard jump of his pulse through the chain.

He felt her fingers shake.

His eyes narrowed. "You're scared."

"I'm annoyed."

"Your hand is shaking."

"Your pulse is worse."

"You can feel that?"

"Unfortunately."

"Then don't touch the seal."

"You don't get to tell me what to do with evidence."

"You're not auditing it. You're waking it up."

The disc pulsed again.

A red line crawled over its surface, forming a symbol Mara knew too well. It was a containment mark, but the outer ring had been cut open and resealed with blood magic.

"Who altered this?" she asked.

Calder's expression closed. "Put it away."

"Who altered it?"

"Mara."

"Answer me."

"Not here."

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

"Actually, I do. I'm the one with the exit."

He kicked a loose panel beneath the old press. It popped open, revealing a narrow service tunnel.

Mara snatched the disc back and shoved it into his chest. "Move."

Calder caught it. "I thought you wanted answers."

"I want the guard behind us."

"That sounds almost like trust."

"It isn't."

"Shame."

He dropped into the tunnel. Mara followed, but the chain snapped tight when he landed more than eight feet away.

Her arm jerked forward. The pain shot through her shoulder.

"Stop moving!" she barked.

Calder grabbed the edge and pulled himself back. Their wrists slammed together. His fingers closed around her forearm to steady her.

His thumb pressed against the inside of her wrist.

Too warm. Too careful.

Mara yanked free. "Don't touch me."

"Then keep your feet under you."

"You were the one who pulled me into the tunnel."

"And you're welcome."

"I would rather be arrested."

"No, you wouldn't."

"You don't know me."

"I know the city guard has orders to bring you in alive only long enough to question you. After that, your exile becomes a death sentence."

Mara froze.

Calder's face changed when he saw it. Not triumph. Recognition.

"Who told you that?" she asked.

"A friend in the rune police."

"Name her."

"No."

Mara caught his coat and shoved him into the tunnel wall. The chain dragged her with him, forcing her close enough that her shoulder brushed his chest.

"Name her."

"You don't get to threaten everyone who helps you."

"You don't get to keep secrets while my life is on the line."

"Your life was on the line before I met you. I just made it harder to kill you."

"You made it impossible to escape you."

"That part wasn't planned."

His breath touched her temple. The tunnel was too narrow. His knee pressed against hers when he shifted. The heat of him made the cold iron at her back feel sharper.

Mara should have stepped away.

The chain gave a warning tug before she could.

Calder noticed. His eyes dropped to their wrists, then came back to her face.

"Eight feet," he murmured. "You're stuck with me."

"For now."

"You say that like you're already planning to cut off my hand."

"I only need the chain gone."

"And if removing it kills me?"

"Then you should have chosen a better profession."

"That's cold."

"You sell secrets for money. Don't lecture me about cold."

He leaned closer, but stopped before his mouth could brush her skin. The pause was deliberate. A test. A warning.

"You keep looking at the chain," he said. "Not at me."

"I keep looking for a way to break it."

"Liar."

Mara drove her knee into his thigh.

Calder grunted and let go of her coat. "There she is."

She slipped past him and climbed through the tunnel. He followed close enough that their shoulders bumped with every step.

Behind them, the print shop doors crashed open.

"Search the building!" a guard shouted. "Voss is inside!"

Calder caught Mara's hand and pulled her around a bend.

"Don't grab me."

"Then stop walking into walls."

"I can see."

"You can see anger. The tunnel turns left."

"I know."

"You just walked right."

"I was checking it."

"For what? A second tunnel made entirely of bad decisions?"

She almost smiled. Almost.

The chain heated again.

Mara stopped. "What now?"

Calder's hand went to the disc beneath his coat. "The seal is reacting to something ahead."

"A guard?"

"Worse."

"You need to stop using that word unless you plan to explain it."

"A city ward. Old one. It recognizes the seal and wants to close around it."

"Then give me the disc."

"No."

"You can't control it."

"Neither can you."

"I dismantle magic for a living."

"You used to."

Mara grabbed the front of his shirt. "Say that again."

"You heard me."

"Say it."

"You were exiled because your last audit killed seven people."

Her grip tightened.

Calder didn't look away. "That verdict is why the city wants you back. Not for justice. They want the woman who can break the ward before it breaks them."

"You have no idea what my verdict did."

"I know the seal wasn't in the evidence room when you signed it."