Chapter 26 · Give the Bell His Heart

"Let go of me, Cade."

His hand snapped around Ivy's wrist before her fingers could reach the black crack.

The pull from below yanked them both across the stone. Her shoulder slammed into his chest. His chain scraped the floor, spitting bright sparks from the links.

Above them, the last black bell hung motionless.

One strike left.

The chamber shook anyway.

"You heard the bell," Cade said. "You know what happens next."

"I know what happens if you get your way."

He twisted her arm behind her back and dragged her from the crack. His coat brushed her knees. His breath hit the side of her face, hot and rough, but his grip stayed careful.

Careful.

That made her even madder.

"You plan to die," Ivy said.

"I plan to stop the reset."

"By dying."

"By giving the lock what it wants."

Ivy drove her heel into his boot.

Cade grunted. He didn't let go.

He shoved her against a broken pillar and trapped her between the stone and his body.

His eyes were too bright. Black veins crawled from his collar toward his jaw, pulsing with the bell's light.

"You don't get to make that choice alone," she snapped.