Chapter 65 · The Second Death Order

"Don't touch that seal, Mara."

Evelyn's voice poured from every speaker in the tower, smooth and cold.

"Tear it out, and the core takes your life-tide with it."

My fingers closed around the broadcast lever anyway.

The red seal burned through my palm. Below us, every prison collar flashed in the same rhythm—red, red, red—locked to my sister's pulse.

Cyrus's voice crackled through the broken comm. "Mara, the lock's spreading! I can hold the lower rings for thirty seconds. Maybe."

"Then hold them for thirty-one."

"That's not how time works!"

"Make it work!"

The tower bucked.

Metal shrieked beneath my boots. I slammed into the console, but Cassian caught me around the waist before my skull hit the edge. His arm locked across my stomach, hard enough to bruise.

"You're bleeding," he said.

"I'm busy."

"You're losing control."

I shoved his arm away. "You gave me your command seal. Don't take my hands off the controls now."

His jaw tightened. The broken badge hung from my belt, still warm from his skin.

"I gave you a choice," he said. "I didn't give you permission to die."

I laughed once. It came out ugly. "Funny.