Chapter 28 · The Cost of Choosing

"Don't you dare cross that line."

Dorian's hand was buried wrist-deep in the burning channel. Black veins crawled over his fingers. The command seal beneath my palm jerked like it wanted to tear itself out of my skin.

I stepped over the red line anyway.

His head snapped toward me. "Mara."

"Save the speech." I grabbed his coat. Heat punched through the fabric and scorched my fingers. "You're trapped in there. Your name is disappearing from the core. And you still think you can order me around?"

"I'm not ordering you." His jaw locked. "I'm telling you to stay alive."

"Funny. You rejected me in front of the whole city to protect your council. Now you're trying to die in private so nobody has to watch you make another choice."

The core answered with a metallic shriek.

Dorian jerked. His trapped hand slammed deeper into the channel. The half-seal in my palm flared white-hot.

I bit back a scream.

"Get back," he said.

"Make me."

His eyes locked on mine.

For one breath, the alarms vanished.