Chapter 2

None of it mattered.

Cade had dragged her where no one could see him break her arm.

"Get off me," Ivy snapped.

"Answer me."

"I saw a corpse stand up."

"Not good enough."

"The dead boy said my brother's name."

Cade's jaw tightened. "What name?"

"You heard it."

"I want you to say it."

"Why? So you can decide whether to arrest me or kill me?"

His grip shifted. His thumb pressed against the inside of her wrist, right over her racing pulse.

Heat spread beneath his touch. Not comfort. A brand waiting to happen.

"Those aren't your only options," he said.

"Funny. Everyone at this academy keeps acting like they are."

Cade leaned closer. His coat brushed her sleeve. He smelled like iron, smoke, and the bitter oil used to clean warding blades.

"You touched the dead man," he said. "Then the first black bell struck. Every light in the academy went out. The corpse spoke in your brother's voice."

"You were there."

"I was."

"Then stop asking questions you already know the answers to."

His eyes dropped to her hand.

Thin black lines crawled beneath her skin, spreading like ink in water. They pulsed once.

Cade saw it.

His hand went to the short blade at his belt.

Ivy twisted hard and drove her knee into his thigh.

He grunted, but his grip didn't loosen. His boot caught her ankle and shoved it back against the stones. The move dragged him closer. His breath touched the side of her face.

"Try that again," he said quietly, "and I'll bind both legs."

"Try it and I'll bite you."

"That's supposed to scare me?"

"No. It's supposed to hurt."

For half a second, one corner of his mouth moved.

Not a smile. Something meaner.

Then it vanished.

"Your magic is spreading," Cade said. "The academy wants you contained before the next bell."

"The academy wants a scapegoat."

"The council wants a body."

"And you?"

"I want the truth."

"No. You want control."

His fingers tightened around her wrist.

The black lines flashed.

Cade flinched.

It was tiny. A twitch in his hand. A sharp breath through his nose.

But Ivy felt it.

The balance shifted.

"You felt that," she said.

"Don't use the mark again."

"So it hurts you."

"I said don't."

"You're not as untouchable as everyone thinks."

His gaze lifted to hers. "You don't know what everyone thinks."

"I know they call you the Warden. I know unstable mages disappear after you take them downstairs. And I know you stood there while they stripped my license in front of three hundred students."

"I didn't strip anything."

"You signed the order."

"I signed an order that kept them from cutting the magic out of you."

Ivy stared at him.

Cade's face stayed hard, but his thumb moved once over her pulse. A small motion. Almost careful.

"Don't look so surprised," he said. "You think I wanted you dead?"

"I think you wanted me helpless."

"That's different."

"Not to the person on the floor."

He reached inside his coat and pulled out a narrow metal cuff.

It looked like black steel. Thin red symbols crawled across its surface. A short chain hung from one side. The other end was already locked around Cade's left wrist.

Ivy stopped fighting for one dangerous second.

"What is that?"

"You're going to wear it."

"No."

"It's a containment link."

"It's a leash."

"Yes."

The blunt answer hit harder than an excuse would have.

Cade released her throat and held the cuff near her face. The metal hummed.

The mark beneath Ivy's skin pulsed back.

Her stomach turned. "Take it away."

"If I do, the next time your power jumps, it'll tear through the nearest person."

"You don't know that."

"I've watched it happen."

"To who?"

His expression slammed shut.

Ivy caught it. "Someone you failed?"

"Put your hand out."

"Tell me."

"Put your hand out."

"Was it a student?"

Cade's eyes went cold. "You're not in a position to bargain."

"Then you shouldn't be afraid of my questions."

The courtyard shook.

Dust spilled from the bellhouse arch. Students screamed beyond the wall. The second bell hadn't struck, but the black lines on Ivy's wrist pulled toward the old tower like threads caught in a current.

Cade glanced over his shoulder.

That was all she needed.

Ivy slammed her forehead into his nose.

He swore and stumbled back. She ripped her wrist free, rolled across the stones, and came up beside the bellhouse door. Her fingers closed around the broken handle of a warding lantern.

"Back up," she warned.

Blood ran from Cade's nose. He wiped it away with two fingers and studied the red smear.

"You headbutted me."

"You were distracted."

"I was checking whether the tower was collapsing."

"Then check it from farther away."

Cade stepped toward her.

Ivy raised the lantern. "One more step."

"Drop it."

"Make me."

The lantern sparked in her grip.

Power surged through her arm and slammed into the cracked glass chamber. A thin blue flame snapped alive, twisting black at the edges.

Cade stopped.

There it was again.

That tiny hesitation.

Ivy pointed the lantern at his chest. "You don't want this near you."

"No."

"Why?"

"Because you don't know how to hold it."

"Wrong answer."

His gaze dropped to the lantern, then returned to her face. "It'll feed on the nearest active ward."

"And you're wearing one."

"I'm carrying six."

"Good. Then you've got plenty to lose."

Cade's stare sharpened. "You think you've found my weak spot."

"I think you just admitted I can hurt you."

"You can hurt everyone in this courtyard."

"Still not a no."

The black flame bent toward him.

Cade moved.

His boot kicked the lantern from her hand. Before it hit the stones, he caught Ivy around the waist and drove her back against the bellhouse door.

The impact knocked the air from her lungs.

His forearm pressed across her ribs, holding her there without crushing her. His face stopped inches from hers. Heat gathered between them. His breath stayed steady, but the blood at his nose kept sliding down.

"Listen carefully," he said. "If you trigger that mark again, I'll put you in a null cell. You'll be awake. You'll be alone. You'll hear every bell, and you won't be able to reach anyone when the city starts breaking."

Ivy's hands were trapped between them. She could feel the hard edge of his warding harness through his coat.

"You're threatening me with a prison."

"I'm telling you what happens if I fail to keep you alive."

"Why do you care?"

"I don't."

"Liar."

His eyes locked with hers.

The word hung there, sharp and far too close.

Cade lowered his voice. "You want the truth? Fine. The mark is looking for something. It found you because your magic is empty enough to carry it."

"Empty?"

"Zero-rank."

"Say that again."

"You heard me."

Ivy drove her elbow into his side.

This time, he caught it before it landed. His fingers closed around her forearm, and he pressed closer as he pinned it to the door.

"Don't," he warned.

"Call me empty again."

"I called your rank empty."

"You meant me."

"I meant the license the academy stamped on you."

"Same thing to them."

"Not to me."

She went still.

Cade seemed to hear the words a second too late. His grip loosened by a fraction.

Ivy used the opening.

She hooked her boot behind his knee and yanked.

Cade dropped with her, but he twisted in midair and took the stone floor on one shoulder. Ivy landed on top of him, one hand braced against his chest. Her other hand reached for the cuff beside his hip.

For one breath, neither of them moved.

His heartbeat thudded beneath her palm. Strong. Even. Annoyingly calm.

Cade looked up at her. "Get off."

"Give me the cuff."

"You're holding it."

"Then stop reaching for it."

"I'm reaching for you."

"Try harder."

His hand closed around her ankle.

Ivy lifted the cuff and pressed its edge against the warding seam near his collar. Red symbols flared beneath his coat.

Cade's breath caught.

Not fear.

Pain.

Real pain.

Ivy smiled without humor. "There you are."

His fingers tightened around her ankle. "Put that down."

"Tell me what it does."

"It keeps you alive."

"It keeps you in control."

"Both can be true."

"Who made it?"

"Does it matter?"

"Everything matters when you're trying to chain me."

Cade's gaze flicked to the cuff. "It links an unstable mage to a living anchor."

"An anchor."

"My body takes the overflow."

Ivy's smile disappeared. "And what does mine take?"

"Nothing."

"You expect me to believe that?"

"You take the signal. I take the damage."

The answer came too fast. Too practiced.

Ivy lowered the cuff slightly. "You've done this before."

"No."

"You just said it like you had."

"I said it like I read the instructions."

"Your hands are shaking."

"They're not."

"They are."

Cade released her ankle and pushed himself up. Ivy tried to scramble away, but he caught the back of her coat and pulled her against him.

Her shoulder struck his chest. His arm locked around her middle, holding her in place while his other hand reached for the cuff.

His mouth was near her ear.

"Give it to me."

"Ask nicely."

"Ivy."

The way he said her name made her pause.

Not soft. Not gentle.

A command wrapped around one syllable.

She turned her head. Their faces nearly touched. His breath warmed her cheek. His eyes dropped to her mouth for half a second before snapping back to hers.

"Say please," she whispered.

His fingers closed over the cuff.

The metal burned both their hands.

Ivy gasped and shoved power into it.

Cade cursed. His heartbeat stumbled against her back.

The black lines raced from her wrist up her arm, crossed her palm, and poured into the cuff. Dark light filled the red symbols.

Cade's arm locked around her.

"Stop," he said.

"Let go."

"Stop, or I'll break the link before it forms."

"Do it."

"I can't."

That stopped her.

Cade's face had gone pale. His breath touched her cheek in short, controlled bursts.

"You can't?" Ivy asked.

"The mark's already chosen."

"Chosen what?"

"You."

The cuff snapped shut around her wrist.

A hot line cut through her skin—not deep, but sharp enough to tear a cry from her throat. The chain between them pulled tight. Symbols crawled from the metal across her wrist and vanished beneath her sleeve.

Cade shoved her away and grabbed his own arm.

The same symbols appeared there.

A pulse slammed through the chain.

Ivy hit the floor on one hand. Cade staggered into the bellhouse wall, one palm braced against the stone.

For a second, the courtyard disappeared.

Not darkness.

A memory.

A narrow room. A boy with her brother's face stood beneath a hanging lamp. His eyes were swollen from crying, but he was smiling anyway.

He reached toward someone outside the memory.

"Please," he said. "I didn't open the door."

A man's voice answered from behind Ivy.

Cade's voice.

"You lied."

The memory jerked sideways.

A blade flashed. A hand clamped over the boy's mouth. The room filled with the smell of hot metal.

Ivy tried to turn, but the memory had no body. No hands. No way out.

Her brother looked straight at her.

His mouth moved.

"Don't trust the butcher."

The words hit like a fist.

Then the memory shattered.

Ivy came back on her knees, choking.

Cade crouched in front of her, one hand hovering near her face without touching it. His eyes were locked on hers, his expression stripped of every excuse.

"What did you hear?" he demanded.

She slapped his hand away. "You tell me."

"I asked you first."

"My brother called you a butcher."

Cade froze.

The chain between their cuffs pulled once, hard enough to drag his wrist toward hers.

His voice dropped. "You saw him."

"You were there."

"No."

"Your voice was there."

"Ivy—"

"You said he lied."

Cade's eyes flicked toward the dark tower.

The black bell began to move.

One strike. Then another.

The chain between them tightened as the mark burned beneath Ivy's sleeve.

Cade reached for her wrist.

Ivy jerked back, keeping the cuff between them. "Don't touch me."

"Listen to me."

"Did you kill him?"

"No."

"Did you hand him over?"

His silence answered too slowly.

Ivy's breath caught. Cade stepped closer, trapping her against the bellhouse wall again. His fingers stopped just short of her wrist.

"Ivy, if you pull on that link now, the tower will—"

"What did you do to my brother?"