Chapter 5 · The Bloodline He Hid

"If you want this covenant sealed, give me the damn gate access."

My palm burned against Ronan's. The moon mark had cut deeper into both our skin, bright and angry beneath the blood.

"You don't get to give orders while the council has a warrant out for you."

"You locked me in your command room. You pressed a life-binding mark into my hand. And now you're worried about manners?"

His fingers tightened around mine.

Heat poured from his skin. Too much heat. Blood had started leaking through the bandage beneath his ribs, staining the side of his shirt black.

"I'm worried about keeping you alive."

"Then stop treating me like your prisoner."

"You're not my prisoner, Mara."

"Funny. The locked door disagrees."

The tide-core slammed behind us.

The control platform bucked under our boots. Brass rings shrieked as blue light crawled over them, then snapped red.

A voice boomed through the speakers.

"By order of the Nightglass Council, Mara Voss is charged with sabotage, unlawful access, and treason against Briarport. High Warden Ronan Vale is commanded to surrender the accused."

I stared at the speaker. "That's not Celia's voice."

"No."

"You knew?"

"I suspected."

I laughed once. It came out sharp. "You suspected someone forged a Warden order, and you still dragged me in here?"

"I brought you here because the real order would've put a blade through your throat before you reached the stairs."

Another shock tore through the platform.

Ronan shoved me behind him. His back blocked the control ring, wide and rigid, but the moon mark still burned between our joined hands.

The speakers crackled again.

"Mara Voss has been named an enemy of the tide. Any guard who finds her is authorized to use lethal force."

My stomach dropped. "They want me dead before the gates fail."

"They want you blamed when they do."

"And you? What do you want?"

His jaw flexed.

"The harbor standing by dawn."

"That wasn't my question."

"It's the only answer that matters right now."

I ripped my hand free.

The mark stretched between our palms like a live wire. Ronan sucked in a breath. Pain ripped through my ribs at the exact same second.

I crashed into the control table. "Don't do that."

"Then stop fighting the bond."

"I'm fighting you. There's a difference."

He crossed the space in two strides and caught me around the waist before my knees gave out.

His palm spread over my side, warm through my torn shirt. His chest pressed against mine. His breath brushed my temple, hot enough to make my skin tighten.

"You keep saying that," he murmured. "Your body keeps disagreeing."

"My body doesn't get a vote."

"It always did with me."

The words hit harder than they had any right to.

I shoved at his chest. He let me move him half an inch, then caught both my wrists and pinned them to the edge of the table.

Not hard enough to hurt.

Hard enough to remind me who controlled this room.

"Let go."

"Will you stop trying to tear the mark apart?"

"Will you give me full gate access?"

"No."

"Then enjoy the pain."

I twisted against him.

His mouth tightened. The cut beneath his ribs split open, and blood ran down his side.

He released one of my wrists and clamped his hand over the wound.

"See?" he snapped. "Every time you pull away, the covenant takes it from both of us."

"You knew that before you marked me."

"I knew the bond shared pain. I didn't know it would close this fast."

"You didn't know, or you didn't tell me?"

His eyes locked onto mine.

There it was again.

That pause. That careful silence he used whenever the truth got too close.

"Ronan."

"The gate is failing. We don't have time for this."

"You had time to reject me on live television."

His grip went still.

I yanked against his hold. "You had time to look straight at me and say you felt nothing."

"Mara—"

"You want an explanation? Fine. You rejected me because you wanted me too much."

His breath caught.

"You already said that." I stepped closer, forcing his hands to tighten around my wrists. "Say the part you keep choking on."

"Mara, stop."

"Who was tracking me?"

The room fell quiet except for the tide-core grinding behind us.

I leaned in until his breath touched my mouth. His eyes dropped there for half a second, then snapped back to mine.

"Who were you protecting me from?" I asked. "The council? Your guards? Someone in my family?"

"I don't know all their names."

"But you know enough."

"I know they were watching your bloodline before you ever touched a gate."

My pulse kicked hard. "My what?"

His gaze dropped to my mouth again.

This time, he didn't look away fast enough.

"Don't make me say more until this is sealed."

"You don't get to keep me half-informed and call it protection."

The tide-core slammed again. Red light flooded the room.

Ronan's hand slid from my wrist to the moon mark between our palms. His fingers closed over it, hot and shaking.

"Mara, if I seal this covenant, you won't be able to walk away from me."

I stared at him. "Then tell me what you found in my bloodline before I—"

The control ring screamed, and Ronan reached for the final seal—