Chapter 37 · Don't Die for Me

"Don't you dare die for me."

Calian caught me around the waist before the Core could drag me back into the white-hot circle. His arm locked across my ribs. His other hand clamped over the burn racing up my wrist.

The contact hit hard.

Heat punched through my bones. His breath scraped my ear, rough and fast.

"Lia, move. Now."

"You move. I'm busy saving your stubborn ass."

"You're standing inside a collapsing life circuit."

"And you're standing in it with me."

The chamber shuddered. Cracks split across the black stone under our boots. Blue light leaked through them, crawling toward the control ring at the center of the floor.

Somewhere beyond the walls, Esterport screamed.

Not one voice. Thousands.

The city’s life-lines had been pulled into the Core, and every pulse came through my body. I felt a child’s racing heartbeat. An old woman gasping for air. A dockworker clutching his chest as the circuit fed on him.

Calian jerked me backward.

I slammed into his chest instead of the floor. His mouth brushed my temple.