Chapter 10 · Blood and Ash

"Don't touch that damn stone again."

Calian's hand clamped over my wrist before my fingertips grazed the obsidian surface.

His grip was scalding. Not warm—blistering hot, enough to bite straight through my sleeve.

"Let go of me," I snapped, yanking back.

"No."

The oathstone pulsed between us on the iron hearth, thrumming like a dying heart. Jagged veins of crimson light leaked through hairline fractures in the rock, slithering across the warped floorboards. Every single pulse hit in time with the heavy, violent beat under Calian’s thumb.

Above us, the joists groaned. It wasn't the slow settle of an old frame. It sounded like the house had lungs, and something heavy was crushing the breath out of them.

"The payment route is exposed," I said, straining against his fingers. "I can see the conduit."

"You see bait, Lia."

"I see the same frequency lines I pulled from the disaster archives!" I shoved my free hand toward the jagged light. "Those aren't natural fractures. They’re channeling thermal load right down into the city grid.