Chapter 34 · The Price of Every Death

"You're burning out." Kael's voice cut through the ringing in my ears.

I was still on my knees. The gate behind me had sealed shut thirty seconds ago, and I could still hear my team screaming on the other side. Earth. Home. Gone.

Again.

"Get up," Kael said.

I didn't move. My hands were shaking. Blood—his blood—was still wet on my palms, and I couldn't remember if this was the fourth time I'd pulled him back or the fifth. The reset count didn't track that. It only tracked deaths. Mine.

"Nora." His boot stepped into my line of sight. "Look at me."

I looked up. His eyes were back to normal—gray, not that horrible crimson—but the edge in his voice told me he wasn't asking.

"I'm fine," I said.

"You're not." He crouched in front of me, and his hand came up under my chin, forcing my head up. "You used the reset anchor's core power. That's not fine. That's erasure."

I shoved his hand away and stood. My legs didn't want to cooperate, but I made them. "I saved your life."

"You spent yours."

"I've got lives to spare.