Chapter 6 · Third Bell

The bridge is already burning when Nora reaches it.

Flames crawl up the support ropes, eating through hemp and pitch. The walkway sways, twenty feet above the gorge. Kael's on the other side, fighting three soldiers in black cloaks—the same ones who ambushed the patrol last loop. Blood runs down his sword arm. He's slower than usual. Something's wrong.

"Kael!" She doesn't think. Just runs.

Mira grabs her shoulder. "Don't. That bridge won't hold."

"He's going to die if I don't."

"He'll die faster if you both go down."

Nora shakes her off. She doesn't have time to explain that she's watched him die three times already. That every loop, he takes the hit meant for someone else. That this time, she knows exactly when the blade's coming.

She hits the bridge at a sprint.

The planks groan under her boots. Smoke stings her eyes. She can see Kael's face now—jaw tight, eyes locked on the nearest attacker. He doesn't see the one circling left. The one with the poisoned knife.

"Left!" she screams.

He pivots. Blocks. The knife skitters across stone.

But the bridge lurches.

One of the support ropes snaps, whipping past her head. The whole structure tilts.