"The shield isn't weakening from outside. Someone's tearing it apart from inside the core."
Every head in the council chamber snapped toward me.
Silas pointed across the table. "She's trying to cause a panic."
"I'm trying to stop a massacre."
"By stealing classified property?"
"By bringing back the one piece of proof you couldn't destroy."
The black case sat beneath my gloved hand. Cold metal pressed into my palm.
Silas's mouth tightened. "Put it down, Mara."
"You first. Tell them why you buried my brother's report."
A murmur rolled around the chamber.
Dorian moved before anyone else could.
He stepped in front of me. Too close.
His shoulder brushed mine. Heat seeped through my jacket. His breath touched my cheek, warm and controlled.
My lungs forgot what they were supposed to do.
His fingers twitched at his side.
He felt it too.
The bond.
Or whatever was left of it.
"Back away," I whispered.
Dorian leaned closer instead. His sleeve dragged over my arm, rough against my skin.
"You first."
"This is your room. Your guards. Your council." I kept my voice low. "What else do you want? Me on my knees?"
His jaw locked. "I want you alive."
"Then stop protecting the people trying to bury this city."
For one breath, he wasn't the commander everyone feared.
He was the man who'd held my face between both hands at midnight. The man who'd pressed his forehead to mine and promised we'd face the council together.
His eyes dropped to my mouth.
The space between us tightened. His body nearly touched mine. I could feel his heat through two layers of clothing, smell leather, steel, and the cedar scent that still haunted my worst memories.
Then he stepped back.
The moment broke.
Dorian turned toward the council. "Mara Voss is charged with theft of restricted evidence, obstruction of city command, and conspiracy against the council."
A guard came for me.
I slapped his hand away. "Touch me and lose the fingers."
The guard froze and looked at Dorian.
Dorian didn't turn around. "Take her."
My chest pulled tight.
Not because I feared the guard. Not because I feared the cells beneath the council hall.
Because Dorian had given the order without looking at me.
Like I was already gone.
"You really want to do this?" I asked.
His jaw flexed. "You left me no choice."
"You rejected me, exiled me, and buried my brother's report." I stepped toward him. "Don't stand there and pretend I did this to you."
The chamber went quiet.
Silas stared at me. "Mara—"
"What? They don't know?" I laughed once. It came out sharp and ugly. "Your beloved commander rejected his bonded mate and sent her out of the city. Shouldn't they hear that before they decide I'm the unstable one?"
Dorian's face went still.
Too still.
"Stop talking," he said.
"Make me."
He crossed the space between us in two strides.
His hand closed around my wrist.
Heat raced up my arm. His grip didn't hurt, but it reminded me how easily he could overpower me. His thumb pressed against my pulse, counting every frantic beat.
The broken bond gave one dead, useless pull.
My breath shook.
His eyes locked onto mine.
For one awful second, neither of us moved.
"Let go," I said.
"Open the case."
"You just ordered them to arrest me."
"Open it, Mara."
"Why? So you can destroy what's inside before anyone sees it?"
"Because you don't know what you're carrying."
"Then tell me."
His fingers tightened around my wrist. "I can't."
"You mean you won't."
"I mean you have no idea what that box is connected to."
"My brother knew."
His expression cracked.
Not grief.
Fear.
There it was.
I slammed my free hand onto the lid.
The black case clicked.
Every light in the council chamber died.
Someone screamed.
Beyond the windows, the blue shield flashed white. Jagged lines split across it, racing from the core toward the city walls.
Dorian jerked me against his chest.
His arm locked around my waist. My back hit the hard plane of him. His breath burned against my ear.
"What did you do?" he demanded.
"I touched the lock."
"You were warned."
"You were lying."
The case pulsed beneath my palm.
Once.
Twice.
A red line crawled across the lid.
Dorian went rigid behind me.
"Mara," he said, his voice dropping. "Take your hand off."
"Why?"
"Because that isn't a record."
The red line split open.
A thin voice crackled from inside the case.
My brother's voice.
"If Mara has found this, then Commander Vale has already—"
The recording cut out.
The chamber exploded.
"What the hell was that?" someone shouted.
"Shut the shield down!"
"We can't!"
"Get her away from the case!"
Dorian spun me around, one hand still locked around my waist. His face stopped inches from mine.
His eyes burned into me.
"What did he say?" I demanded.
"You heard him."
"No. I heard half a sentence. Finish it."
His gaze dropped to the glowing case, then returned to mine.
His breath brushed my lips.
"Your brother left one final warning," Dorian said.
"About what?"
"The shield. The council. Me."
"Stop talking around it."
His thumb shifted against my waist. Barely an inch. Enough to send heat through the fabric between us.
"If the box opened for you, then it means the rejection never—"
The case snapped fully open beneath my hand, and something inside it lunged toward—