Chapter 62 · The Marriage Seal

"Down!"

A rifle round punched through the steel panel beside my head.

Dorian slammed me to the armored floor before the second shot hit.

"Stay behind me."

"Get off me."

His chest pinned my shoulder down. Heat soaked through his coat. Gunpowder burned in the back of my throat.

Another burst tore across the command deck. Glass cracked. A red warning light spun over us.

"The tribunal changed targets," Dorian said.

"I heard the order. They want you dead first."

"Then stop arguing and move."

I drove my elbow into his ribs.

He grunted and rolled aside. I crawled toward the broadcast console while bullets chewed through the far wall.

The speakers screamed with static.

Everyone on the rail line had heard Dorian order the blast. They'd heard Sera cut into the recording. Then the tribunal had answered with one clean command.

Kill Commander Vale first.

My boots slid through broken glass as I reached the console. The main screen flashed red, then died.

"Sera cut the channel," I said.

Dorian fired over my shoulder. "Can you bring it back?"

"If I had a working console, maybe."

"You built the rail broadcast system.