Chapter 67 · The Full Tide Mark

"You're not going down there alone."

Cassian caught my wrist before I reached the lower passage.

His glove was split across the knuckles. Dried blood crusted in the seams. The engine chamber shook hard enough to rattle my teeth.

"I wasn't asking permission." I twisted against him. "Move."

"No."

"Cassian."

His grip tightened. Not enough to hurt. Enough to remind me who stood in my way—the commander of Blackwater Harbor, the only man with clearance to open the sealed gate, and the same bastard who'd rejected me in front of half the city.

He leaned closer. Heat brushed my cheek. He smelled like metal, smoke, and sharp salt from the tide-blood.

"You can hate me after we stop the second flood sequence," he said. "Right now, you stay where I can keep you alive."

"That's rich." I yanked again. "You rejected our bond, then decided you still get to keep me?"

His jaw locked.

"I rejected the bond in public," he said. "I didn't reject your life."

The floor bucked beneath us.