Chapter 52 · The Missing Regent

The guard's rifle was already coming down when Cassian turned.

He knocked the barrel aside with his blade.

A second guard drove a shock baton into his ribs.

Cassian dropped to one knee.

The sound tore out of me. "Get off him!"

I yanked against the seal buried in my palm. Pain ripped up my arm, hot and vicious. The core answered with one violent pulse and hurled the guard across the chamber.

He smashed into the far wall and slid down it.

Cassian looked over his shoulder. "Don't pull the current!"

"Then stop getting hit!"

"You could've ripped your arm open."

"And you could've died. We're both having a terrible night."

His mouth almost curved.

Then the captain slammed into him.

They crashed into the control bank. Metal shrieked under their weight. The captain seized Cassian by the throat and drove him against the panels.

"You really think she'll choose you when the council learns what she is?" the captain snarled.

Cassian smashed his forehead into the man's nose.

Blood sprayed across the captain's mouth.

"She doesn't have to choose me."

Cassian twisted, hooked the captain's leg, and threw him onto the floor.