Chapter 53 · The city will survive a little damage. It has survived your reporting

"The city will survive a little damage. It has survived your reporting."

My stomach turned.

Calian moved, but I held him back.

"Don't," I said.

Sevryn smiled without warmth. "She still thinks she can control you."

"She doesn't control me," Calian said.

"No? Your pulse answers her. Your power answers her. When she bleeds, you bleed. That's not control. That's ownership with prettier language."

"Say what you came to say."

"The core is ready. Take the life-right, and the oath chain will burn through your bond. Refuse, and the rift consumes the lower districts before dawn."

"You built the chain to force that choice."

"I built it to keep guardians useful."

"You built it to make sacrifices easy."

Sevryn's eyes moved to me. "There it is. The reporter's favorite word. Sacrifice. You use it like it makes you brave."

"And you use it like people are numbers."

"People are costs. Your sister understood that before she died."

Every sound in the chamber vanished.

Calian turned his head toward me.

"Lia."

Sevryn tapped the control rail.