Chapter 5

"You are the only thing keeping me alive."

"That is a terrible thing to say to someone you just met."

"It is a worse thing to hear."

I stared at him.

He did not look away.

For the first time since the Wardens appeared, he looked less like a man giving orders and more like someone trapped inside a problem he could not punch his way out of.

I hated that I noticed.

I hated that I believed him.

A bell rang outside.

One long note.

Riven's expression changed.

"What is that?"

"City lockdown signal."

"How do you know?"

"Because I have been arrested enough times to recognize the bells."

A second bell answered from farther away.

Then a third.

The city was closing its gates.

The case lay near my boot.

I picked it up.

Riven watched the movement.

"You are still taking that?"

"It is my job."

"Your job is about to get you killed."

"That is also in my contract."

"You signed a death clause?"

"I signed whatever paid."

"Who is your client?"

"You ask a lot of questions for a man who refuses to answer mine."

"I answered your name."

"Barely."

He stepped closer.

One step.

Two.

The space between us tightened. His heat reached my face. Smoke clung to his coat, and his breathing still sounded rough from the fire.

"Give me the case," he said.

"No."

"That was not a request."

"Then ask better."

His hand lifted.

I drew the small knife from my boot and held it between us.

His gaze dropped to the blade, then returned to my eyes.

"You are going to stab an injured man?"

"You are going to steal from a courier?"

"It belongs to me."

"It belongs to my client."

"Your client is the reason the Wardens found you."

"You said the case was bait."

"It is."

"Then why do you want it?"

Riven's mouth tightened.

"Because if it opens in the wrong hands, half the city dies."

I kept the knife up.

"That sounds dramatic."

"You saw what is under my skin. Do I look like a man who has time for dramatic lies?"

"You look like a rich bastard with a talent for making trouble."

"And you look like a thief who has no idea what she is carrying."

"Careful. You might hurt my feelings."

"I am trying to keep you alive."

"You have a strange way of showing it."

He reached past the knife.

I caught his wrist.

The contact lasted less than a second.

The fire inside me snapped awake.

Riven inhaled sharply.

His fingers closed around my wrist on instinct. His body moved closer until my back brushed the cold edge of the press.

"Let go," I whispered.

"You first."

"I am not holding you."

"You are holding the fire."

The words landed between us.

A pulse struck beneath my ribs.

Once.

I froze.

Riven felt it too. His eyes widened, just slightly.

"What was that?" he asked.

"Nothing."

"That was not nothing."

"Maybe your fire has a stomach problem."

"Talia."

"Do not say my name like that."

"Like what?"

"Like you are about to make this my fault."

His gaze stayed on my face. His thumb pressed once against my pulse.

The fire answered.

Another beat struck beneath my ribs.

Riven went very still.

"Let go," he said.

This time, he sounded afraid.

I released his wrist.

The black fire vanished from my hand.

Riven staggered back as if I had shoved him. He caught the table, breathing hard.

I took one step away.

The room tilted.

Something moved inside my chest.

Not pain.

A heartbeat.

It beat beneath my own, slower and heavier.

I pressed my palm to my sternum.

"Riven."

He looked at me.

The color had drained from his face.

"Do not move," he said.

"Why?"

"Because I need to know if it is attached to you."

"That is not a comforting sentence."

"Take one step toward me."

"You take one step toward me."

"Talia, do it."

"You are not in charge of me."

"Not yet."

The second heartbeat struck again.

My knees nearly gave out.

Riven crossed the distance and caught my waist before I hit the floor.

The instant his hand touched me, the pulse stopped.

His face was inches from mine.

"You felt that," I said.

"Yes."

"Tell me what it is."

"I do not know."

"You are lying."

"I am not."

"You are an Ash heir. You know everything. That is what rich families do. They hide answers in locked rooms and pretend ignorance when people start bleeding."

His jaw tightened.

"I know what the fire has done before. I know what it can do to a city. I do not know why it started beating inside you."

A sharp click came from the open doorway.

Metal sliding into place.

Riven turned, but he did not release me.

A woman stood in the lane, dressed in a gray inspector's coat with silver clasps at the throat. She held a long black pistol in both hands.

The barrel pointed straight at my chest.

Two city officers stood behind her, but neither raised a weapon. They didn't need to. The woman had the kind of stillness that made other people wait for permission to breathe.

Riven's grip tightened around my waist.

"Evelyn Thorne," he said.

She smiled at him.

"You are supposed to be dead, Riven."

"You always did hate being disappointed."

Her eyes moved to me.

The pistol followed.

"And you must be Talia Quill."

"Depends who is asking."

"The woman holding your death contract."

My fingers tightened around the case.

"Then I suppose you are asking."

"Put the case down."

"No."

Riven leaned close to my ear.

"Do exactly what she says."

I elbowed him lightly in the ribs.

He barely reacted.

"Stop giving me orders," I muttered.

"Stop making me save you from them."

Evelyn's gaze dropped to his hand at my waist.

Then she looked back at my face.

"Interesting," she said.

"What is?" I asked.

"You are still alive."

"I get that a lot."

"No. You do not understand. Nobody holds the Ash fire and walks away."

The second heartbeat struck beneath my ribs.

Evelyn heard it.

Her smile disappeared.

"Riven," she said, raising the pistol a fraction, "what did she take from you?"

His body went rigid against mine.

I felt his breath stop.

Evelyn's finger settled along the trigger guard.

"Answer me," she said. "Or I put a bullet through the girl and find out what comes out when—"