Chapter 57 · The Mark Under My Skin

"Don't."

Cassian caught my wrist before the blade could touch my sister's chest.

The tide-bone throbbed beneath her ribs. White light crawled through the blue veins in her skin, every pulse matching the engine grinding below us. Her body jerked against the iron frame.

"Let go." I twisted hard.

His grip tightened. "Cut it wrong, and she dies."

"If I don't cut it, she dies anyway."

"Mara."

"Don't use that voice with me." I drove my shoulder into his chest. "You rejected me in front of half the harbor. You don't get to grab me now and start giving orders."

His jaw locked. Blood ran from his temple into the torn collar of his black coat. He still looked like the commander who could silence a room with one glance.

Only his hand betrayed him.

It shook around mine.

"I'm not ordering you," he said. "I'm stopping you from cutting through the core while she's still attached to it."

"Then stop holding me."

He stepped closer instead.

His body blocked the red light spilling from the engine shaft. Heat pressed between us.