Chapter 12 · The Second Mark

"Don't finish it!" I slammed both hands into Ronan's chest. "Whatever you're doing, stop!"

His palm was pressed over the black line burning across my ribs. Heat punched through my shirt and sank into my skin.

His other hand locked around my wrist.

"Mara, listen to me."

"I listened when you rejected me in front of the whole city." I shoved against him again. "I listened when you let the council call me unstable. So forgive me if I don't take orders from you now."

The abandoned shaft bucked under our feet.

Dust and rust rained from the stone ceiling. Below us, the exposed tide core pulsed blue-white, throwing sharp light across Ronan's bloodstained face.

He looked wrecked. Blood ran from his temple. His coat hung open, soaked from the waist down, and every breath scraped through his teeth.

Still, he didn't move his hand from my ribs.

"If I pull away," he said, "the second mark locks."

"Then pull away."

"It'll take your blood with it."

"You already took everything else."

His grip tightened around my wrist.