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"Move!" Rowan shoved Tessa through the stone doorway just as a bolt punched into the wall beside her head.
She hit the ground on one knee. The limiter around her wrist snapped tight, dragging Rowan's arm down with hers. Their linked heartbeats kicked hard at the same time.
"Get off me."
"Stand up."
"You first."
Another bolt scraped over Rowan's shoulder. He grabbed the back of Tessa's coat and hauled her deeper into the dark.
She swung at his face. He caught her wrist before she could land the hit. His palm closed around her hard enough to stop the bones in her hand from moving, but not hard enough to break them.
"Try that again," he said, breathing close to her ear, "and I'll carry you."
"Try it and I'll bite you."
His eyes dropped to her mouth for half a second.
That was all she needed.
Tessa drove her heel into his boot, twisted free, and ran.
The tunnel dropped sharply beneath her feet. She nearly went over the edge before Rowan caught her around the waist. His arm locked across her ribs. Her back slammed against his chest, and the limiter between them gave a sharp metallic click.
"Stop moving," he growled.
"You keep saying that like I take orders from you."
"You keep proving you should."
Outside the entrance, armored boots hammered across the stone. Council enforcers shouted over one another.
"Seal the vault!"
"The warden and the girl are inside!"
"Don't let them reach the lower gates!"
Tessa shoved at Rowan's arm. "They heard you drag me in here."
"I noticed."
"Your plan is terrible."
"My plan kept you alive."
"For how long?"
He looked down at the glowing mark under her collarbone. The living seal pulsed through her shirt, bright enough to paint his jaw in pale blue.
"Three days," he said.
Tessa's stomach tightened. "Don't say it like that."
"The seal showed you Greyharbor falling in three days. You told me that much."
"I told you the city dies in three days. I didn't say the seal was right."
"You did when your heart nearly stopped after you lied."
The pulse in her chest stumbled.
Rowan felt it. His grip tightened.
"Careful," he said. "The seal knows when you lie."
"It knows when I say things you don't like."
"No. It knows when you hide the truth."
The enforcers reached the doorway. White council light spilled across the tunnel floor.
Rowan pulled Tessa behind a thick stone pillar and pressed her flat against it. His body blocked her from the entrance. One hand braced beside her head. The other stayed locked around the limiter chain.
His breath brushed her cheek. Warm. Controlled. Too close.
Tessa kept her chin up. "Move your hand."
"If I move, they see you."
"Then stand somewhere else."
"There is nowhere else."
"You built this lovely prison. Surely you know the layout."
A shadow crossed the entrance.
"Warden Vale!" someone called. "Step out and surrender the runner. The Council will restore your rank."
Rowan didn't answer.
The voice sharpened. "You have one chance. The girl is carrying a Class-Seven breach key. Her execution order is already signed."
Tessa glanced at Rowan. "Class-Seven?"
"Don't start."
"You said it was a seal."
"It is a seal."
"You also said it couldn't open anything."
His jaw flexed.
There it was. The tiny pause. The lie trying to get past him.
Tessa whispered, "You just lied."
The mark under her collarbone flared.
Pain clamped around her heart.
Rowan jerked at the same time. His shoulder hit the pillar. For one ugly second, both of them struggled to breathe.
"Damn you," he said.
"You did that."
"You forced the seal to test me."
"You lied first."
He bent closer, his forehead nearly touching hers. "Do that again and the limiter tightens."
"Good. Maybe it will cut off your voice."
His fingers slid from the chain to her wrist. His thumb pressed over her pulse, counting the frantic beats.
"You're enjoying this," he said.
"Watching you suffer? A little."
"You should be terrified."
"I am. I just don't owe you the satisfaction."
For a moment, neither of them moved. The boots outside shifted. The enforcers were searching the upper tunnel, but they hadn't entered yet.
Rowan's gaze stayed on her face. His thumb remained against her pulse.
Tessa could feel every beat through his skin. She hated that the seal made it impossible to tell where her panic ended and his began.
"Take your hand off me," she said, quieter this time.
"Ask properly."
"Go to hell."
"That wasn't proper."
She yanked at the limiter chain. The metal burned cold against her skin.
"You want me calm? Tell me what happens if they take me."
"They will cut the seal out."
"And?"
"You won't survive it."
"That's not the part you're hiding."
His stare hardened.
Tessa leaned into his hand instead of pulling away. The movement brought her mouth close to his jaw. She felt him go still.
"What happens to you?" she asked.
"Nothing."
The seal flashed again.
This time Rowan's hand shot to the side of her neck. He didn't squeeze. He only held her there, keeping her face turned toward his.
"Don't bait it."
"You said nothing."
"Because nothing happens to me if they take you."
The pain twisted through both their chests.
Tessa sucked in a breath. "Liar."
Rowan's eyes went dark. "If they remove the seal from you, it will tear through the person it's chained to. That person is me. Happy?"
The pain faded.
Tessa stared at him.
"You left that out."
"You left out the fact that you can read the seal."
"I didn't know I could until it started showing me things."
"Who taught you?"
"No one."
A low vibration moved through the limiter. Not quite a warning. More like a threat clearing its throat.
Rowan felt it too. His eyes dropped to the chain.
"Try again."
"No one taught me."
The mark burned.
"Tessa."
She hated the way he said her name. Not soft. Not kind. Like a command he expected her body to obey.
"My mother showed me the first lock," she said.
The tunnel seemed to shrink around them.
Rowan's thumb stopped moving over her pulse.
"Your mother is dead."
"That's what the Council told me."
"She died six years ago."
"You sound very sure."
"I was there."
The words landed harder than the pain.
Tessa shoved his hand from her neck. This time, he let her.
"You were there?" she whispered. "At the breach?"
"I was there when the north vault collapsed."
"And my mother?"
"I didn't say she was in the vault."
The seal pulsed once.
Not a lie.
Tessa's anger sharpened. "You know where she is."
"I know what I saw."
"Then tell me."
"Not here."
"Convenient."
"Alive people don't argue in open tunnels while an army waits outside."
"You dragged me into a monster vault. This is your idea of safe?"
A deep scrape rolled through the darkness below them.
Both of them turned.
Something heavy moved beyond the next bend. Stone ground against stone. A wet clicking followed.
Tessa reached for the knife at her belt.
Rowan caught her hand. "No."
"You have a better idea?"
"Yes. Stay behind me."
"That isn't an idea. That's a habit."
"Then learn faster."
The scrape came again, closer this time.
Rowan drew the black blade strapped beneath his coat. Thin blue lines crawled along its edge. The weapon made the living seal react. Tessa's chest tightened, and Rowan's did too.
"Your sword is making the chain hurt," she said.
"The seal recognizes rift iron."
"Can you turn it off?"
"Can you turn off your mouth?"
"No."
"Then we're both stuck."
The creature rushed around the bend.
It had too many joints and a plated head, its body folding in on itself as it charged. Rowan stepped forward and struck. The blade cut through one of its limbs, but the creature kept coming.
Tessa grabbed the limiter chain and pulled.
Rowan stumbled sideways. The creature's claws missed his ribs by inches and slammed into the wall.
"What the hell are you doing?" he snapped.
"Saving you."
"By yanking me out of position?"
"You're welcome."
The creature turned toward her.
Rowan moved fast. He seized Tessa by the back of her coat and shoved her behind him. His shoulder hit the monster's plated head. The impact drove him to one knee.
Tessa saw the seal flare between them.
A line of blue light ran from her wrist to Rowan's blade.
"Rowan! Left side!"
He twisted.
"Now!" she shouted.
He drove the blade under the creature's jaw. The monster shrieked and burst into a cloud of black dust.
Tessa coughed and waved the grit from her face. Rowan stood, breathing hard, a cut running from his temple to his cheek.
She reached for him before she could stop herself.
Her fingers brushed the blood.
He caught her hand.
"Don't."
"You're bleeding."
"I noticed."
"You could say thank you."
"You could stop touching me."
His hand was warm around hers. His thumb pressed lightly against her knuckles, and neither of them let go right away.
The moment broke when a metal bell rang above them.
Once.
Twice.
Then every light in the tunnel snapped on.
Red sigils appeared across the walls. The Council had found the vault controls.
Rowan released her and grabbed the chain. "Run."
"Where?"
"Down."
"You said the lower gates were sealed."
"They are."
"So we're running toward a wall?"
"We're running toward a way through it."
"You'd better have one."
"I do."
The entrance boomed behind them.
Tessa looked over her shoulder. A steel barrier was dropping across the doorway. Enforcers crowded behind it, crossbows raised.
"Vale!" one of them shouted. "The Council has named you a traitor. Drop the girl and kneel!"
Rowan pulled Tessa against him and turned his back to the entrance. Bolts struck the stone around them.
"Keep moving," he said.
"You don't have to tell me twice."
They sprinted down the sloping passage. The limiter chain bounced between them, pulling at their wrists every time their steps fell out of rhythm.
"You're too slow," Rowan said.
"You're too tall. Fix it."
"Match my pace."
"I hate your pace."
"Your heart disagrees."
She glanced at him. "Did you just flirt while we were being shot at?"
"I was insulting you."
"Badly."
His mouth almost curved. Almost.
The floor shook beneath them.
A circular door appeared ahead, carved into the rock. Its rim glowed with the same blue light as the seal on Tessa's chest.
Rowan stopped so suddenly she crashed into him.
His hands caught her shoulders. Her cheek struck the hard line of his chest. For one second, she felt his heart pounding against her skin.
"This is the vault," he said.
"The one with the way through?"
"The one that decides whether we live."
"That sounds less promising."
He put his palm against the door. Nothing happened.
The seal on Tessa's chest pulsed.
The door answered.
A thin line split down its center.
Rowan's expression changed. Not fear. Something tighter. Something he didn't want her to see.
"What?" Tessa asked.
"Give me your hand."
"No."
"Tessa."
"You want my hand, ask like a person."
Behind them, the steel barrier began to buckle. Enforcers were cutting through it.
Rowan stepped into her space. His knee brushed hers. He took her wrist and placed her palm against the vault door.
"Open it," he said.
"I don't know how."
"The seal does. Let it lead you."
"You keep saying that like it won't kill me."
"It might."
She stared at him. "You could've left that part in."
"You wanted the truth."
"I wanted useful truth."
"Then stop wasting time."
His fingers closed over hers. The warmth of his hand spread through her cold knuckles. Their linked heartbeats slammed together, fast and uneven.
Tessa pressed harder against the door.
Blue light ran beneath her palm.
The vault clicked.
Rowan leaned close, his mouth near her ear. "When it opens, stay beside me."
"You mean stay where you can control me."
"I mean if you cross the threshold alone, the seal will pull your heart out of rhythm."
"And yours?"
"Mine follows."
"So you admit you need me."
His gaze locked on hers.
"I admit you're dangerous."
"That's not what I asked."
The door groaned open.
Blackness waited beyond it. No stairs. No floor. Just a deep drop filled with distant metal sounds.
The enforcers broke through the barrier.
"There!" someone yelled. "Don't let them enter the vault!"
Rowan shoved Tessa across the threshold.
She caught the edge of his coat. "If you let go, I swear—"
"I won't."
The promise came too fast. Too certain.
His hand locked around hers as he jumped after her.
The vault door slammed shut.
Bolts struck the other side. Someone outside shouted for the Council seal. A red symbol burned across the metal, then another, then another.
Rowan pulled Tessa close, forcing her against the sealed door while the limiter chain tightened between their wrists.
"They locked the exit," she said.
"I can see that."
"You said this place had another way out."
"It does."
"Where?"
He looked into the darkness below.
Something answered from far inside the vault.
Not a growl.
Not a monster.
A woman's voice.
"Tessa Quill."
Tessa stopped breathing.
Rowan's fingers closed around hers.
The voice came again, closer now.
"Tessa Elian Quill."
Her knees almost gave out.
Nobody used her middle name. Nobody except—
The hidden name followed, soft and familiar, the name her mother had whispered when Tessa was little and afraid of the dark.
Rowan turned toward her. "What did it call you?"
The red Council sigils flared behind them. The vault door locked with a final, brutal click.
From the black passage ahead, her mother's voice said, "Little star, why did you bring the warden—"