Chapter 26 · The Hunting Ground Beneath the Silver Umbrella

The first bell rang while the ground was still opening.

Riftport’s central square shuddered beneath Xia Lan’s boots. A jagged crack split the execution platform from end to end, spilling blue-white light through the stone. Dust rose in choking curtains. Somewhere below, metal groaned awake—slow, enormous, and patient.

Xia Lan stood at the edge of the fracture with one hand pressed against her ribs. Her lungs pulled in air that tasted of ash, hot copper, and rain trapped beneath the earth. The silver feathers along her shoulders trembled beneath her torn coat. She could still hear the Core whispering inside her skull.

XL-013.

Original subject.

Recovery chamber.

The words had stopped being information. They had become hooks sunk into the softest parts of her mind.

Across the broken platform, Nolan Vey turned toward her. Blood darkened the collar of his uniform, and one sleeve hung in ribbons from the fight with the Core’s guardians. He looked as if the city had already tried to kill him and was deciding whether to make a second attempt.

“Xia.”

Her name struck harder than the alarms.

For one terrible heartbeat, she could not remember why his voice mattered.

Nolan saw it happen.