Chapter 9 · The Execution Key

"Put the blade down, Lena."

Cade had one hand locked around her wrist and the other pressed over the black sigil burning beneath her palm. His face was inches from hers. Blood slipped from the cut above his eyebrow and hit the stone between their boots.

"Get off me."

"Not while the Institute is using your hand to kill me."

The sigil flashed.

Pain ripped up Lena's arm. Her fingers jerked. The narrow blade in her grip swung toward Cade's chest.

He shoved her wrist aside. The point scraped across his coat instead of sinking in.

"Three seconds," he said. "Then I break your hand."

"Try it."

"One."

"Cade—"

"Two."

The execution block groaned beneath them. A red line split across the stone, opening like a mouth. Heat punched through Lena's boots. Somewhere below, gears began to turn.

Slow.

Huge.

Cade's grip tightened. His thumb pressed over the pulse in her wrist.

"Three."

Lena drove her knee into his thigh.

He grunted, but he didn't let go. He twisted her arm behind her back and hauled her against him. His chest locked against her shoulders.