Chapter 41 · The Name Beneath the Mark

"Cassian!" I shouted as the floodgate slammed sideways and threw him into the iron frame.

"Stay back!"

He caught the wheel with both hands before it tore free. Blood dripped from his split knuckles through the grating beneath his boots.

"Mara, get to your sister. Now."

Beyond the gate, black water crashed through the lower chamber.

My sister screamed through the roar.

"Liora!"

I took one step toward the inner door.

The mark in my palm flared.

I stopped so hard my boots scraped across the metal floor. A thin red line crawled from the center of my hand toward my wrist.

Then it pulsed.

Far below us, the tide engine answered with a deep, grinding thud.

"Evelyn's doing that!" Cyrus yelled from the control rail. His face had gone gray. "She's forcing the heart-mark open. If Mara's mark completes, the engine will read her as the command source."

"Then shut it down!"

"I can't! The lock took your bloodline as the key."

"I don't have a bloodline."

Cyrus stared at my hand.

"Tell that to the gate."

Another wave slammed into the floodgate.

Cassian's shoulders jerked. The iron wheel spun half a turn under his hands.