Chapter 14 · The Price of the Gate

"Get off the bridge!" Ronan shouted.

The smuggler boat slammed into the blockade.

I flew backward and hit the master-gate controls hard enough to crack my elbow. My palm smacked the copper plate.

The second blood line under my skin lit up.

Pain ripped through my hand.

Below us, black seawater punched through the lower channel.

"Dax!" I yelled. "What the hell are you doing?"

His boat scraped sideways across the flood barrier. Metal shrieked against stone. Dax kept one hand on the wheel and pressed the other to his bleeding forehead.

"Saving you from the council!" he shouted back. "You're welcome!"

"You rammed a boat into a live tide gate!"

"It was that or let them seal you inside it! Pick a complaint later!"

Another wave smashed into the lower supports.

The master gate shuddered under my hand. Every lantern along the bridge flashed blue, then white.

Ronan grabbed the back of my coat and hauled me away from the controls.

The copper plate tore at my palm as I stumbled back.

I spun on him. "Take your hands off me."

He let go immediately. He didn't step away.

His chest nearly brushed mine.