Chapter 5 · The Line in the Contract

"Mara, don't let go!" Adrian's hand slipped out of mine, and the tribunal floor vanished under his boots.

He dropped three feet.

Then six.

Then twenty.

I lunged after him and caught the front of his coat. The fabric tore through my fingers. His body slammed into the black grid below hard enough to crack the glass memory tiles.

"Adrian!"

His head snapped sideways. Blood ran from the corner of his mouth.

Then the chamber jerked backward.

His torn coat sealed itself. The broken tiles jumped into place. My hand closed around his wrist again.

And Adrian fell.

"What the hell is happening?" I yelled.

"You tell me!"

The tribunal chamber folded around us.

One second, Adrian lay facedown on the floor. The next, he stood beside the witness dais with a blade buried in his chest. Then he was choking against the wall, fingers clawing at the mark burning beneath his collar.

Every time, he looked at me before he died.

Every time, I reached him too late.

"Stop fighting the loop!" I grabbed his face between both hands. "Look at me. Stay with me."

His skin burned under my palms.