Chapter 40 · Beyond the Contract

The city was falling.

Not drifting. Not sinking. Falling.

Asterfall dropped through the clouds with the slow, terrible certainty of a stone released from a god’s hand. Streets tilted beneath Nora’s boots. Houses tore loose from their foundations and spun into the white gulf below. Somewhere above, broken bridges screamed as their cables snapped one after another, the sound swallowed by thunder.

Nora hung over the shattered tower shaft with Kane’s arm locked around her waist.

The Thunder Crown burned inside her chest.

It was not heat. Heat could be endured. This was a living pressure, a second pulse forcing its way through her ribs. Blue-white light crawled beneath her skin, branching over her shoulders and down her fingers in intricate, shifting circuits. Every beat of her heart sent a shock through the ruined tower.

Below them, Beckett clung to a jagged railing with one hand. Blood ran from his temple, disappeared into the gray dust coating his face, and dripped into the open air.

He looked up at Nora. 'I would like to register a formal objection to your plan.'

Nora tightened her grip on the broken edge of stone.