Chapter 58 · The Second Flood Key

Cassian seized my wrist and slammed my glowing palm against his forehead.

A scream tore out of me.

Pain ripped up my arm, punched through my shoulder, then burst across my ribs. My sister's body opened inside my mind—bone threading through muscle, blood dragging itself toward the engine, her heartbeat feeding the machine one beat at a time.

Cassian made a rough sound, but he didn't let go.

"Get out of my head!" I gasped.

"I'm not in your head."

"Then why can I feel you?"

He pressed harder. Sweat darkened his hair and ran down his temple. His breath shook against my palm.

The pain split apart.

Half of it poured into him.

Cassian's knees buckled.

"Let go!"

"No."

"You're going to break!"

"I've been worse."

"Liar."

"Keep looking."

The pressure crushed every word between us. I forced my eyes toward the glowing bridge inside my sister's chest.

The thick white line was still there, running from her heart to the engine's center ring.

But beneath it—hidden under the bone—another thread twisted through the light.

Black. Slick. Alive.

It was tied to the core with a knot shaped like a crown.

My breath caught.

"There's another line.