Chapter 17 · The Disaster Maker

"So that's it? I'm the one who broke the world?"

I didn't scream it. I couldn't. My voice sounded like it had been dragged through gravel. I stared at the shard of the silver heart resting in the dust between us. The words were etched there in cold, mocking letters: DISASTER MAKER.

Dax didn't move. He was too close. I could feel the heat radiating off him, the smell of ozone and old parchment clinging to his coat. He looked at the shard, then at me. For the first time, the Chief Judge of Glassharbor looked like he wanted to run.

"Mara, listen to me," he said. His voice was low, vibrating in the space between us. He reached out, his fingers grazing my wrist.

I jerked back like he’d burned me.

"Listen to what?" I snapped. I backed away, my boots crunching on glass. "That I'm the reason this city resets? That people die and forget they ever existed? You knew. You've known this whole time while you played the brooding savior!"

"I didn't know for sure," he countered. His voice hardened. He stepped forward, closing the gap.