Chapter 17 · The Price of Refusal

"Tell me what happens if I refuse."

My fingers tightened around Evelyn Dane's throat. "Not the council's version. Not the pretty lie. The real one."

Her smile barely moved, but her pulse jumped beneath my thumb.

"You heard the order," she said. "Your life-tide has to be given willingly."

"I heard that part." I shoved her harder against the core. Cold metal bit into her spine. "What happens after I give it?"

Across the chamber, Cassian gripped the console with one blood-soaked hand. His shirt hung in tatters around his shoulder.

Every time he flinched, pain stabbed beneath my ribs.

Our bond carried all of it.

"Mara." His voice came low and sharp. "Let her go."

"You don't get to order me around." I dragged Evelyn higher. Her boots scraped over the platform. "You already decided what I could lose once. I'm getting the truth before you decide again."

Cassian's jaw locked.

Cyrus glanced at the cracked tide clock. "Forty-three minutes before the lower gates finish opening."

A boom shook the chamber.

Dust rained from the copper pipes. Far below, thousands of gallons of black harbor water slammed into the floodgates.

Evelyn's eyes slid toward the floor.

"There," she whispered.