Chapter 69 · The Blood Order

"Watch me."

I shoved past Ronan and slammed my hand onto the broadcast key.

The tower woke up.

Every monitor flashed white. Then a countdown appeared.

00:47.

00:46.

00:45.

The floor kicked beneath my boots. Console lights snapped from white to blue, and somewhere below us, the first tide gate groaned against the rising water.

Dax swore. "That wasn't supposed to happen yet."

Celia bent over the exposed wiring. "The core recognized her."

"Recognized me as what?"

Neither of them answered.

Ronan did.

"As the person who can open it."

I turned on him. "You knew."

His silence hit harder than a confession.

The rejection. The missing funds. The sealed records. Every time he'd shoved me away while watching me like he wanted to memorize exactly how much it hurt.

He'd known the gates could answer to my blood.

"You knew I had access," I said.

"I knew there was a chance."

"And you hid it."

"I was trying to keep the council from finding out."

"By making me look like a traitor?"

"By making them believe you had no claim on me."

The countdown dropped to thirty seconds.

Celia grabbed my shoulder. "Mara, choose.