Chapter 69 · The Death Seal

"Open the gates, Mara!" Cassian's shout cracked across the engine chamber. "Or the lower wards drown with us inside!"

His voice hit me through the bond before I could see him. The tide mark beneath my ribs flared white-hot. My lungs locked.

Black metal clamped around my wrist. Red runes crawled across the death seal, bright enough to stain my fingers crimson.

Three names were carved into it.

Three sacrifices.

Two children.

"You want me to activate this?" I shouted. "You want me to kill them so the council can keep its precious tower standing?"

"I want you alive!"

"That isn't what the order says."

"The order is forged."

I laughed, but there wasn't anything funny in it. "Your seal is stamped across the bottom."

Cassian's jaw tightened.

He stood twenty feet away, one hand locked around the railing. Blood darkened the corner of his mouth. Every pulse from the engine tore another shudder through his shoulders.

His other hand rested on his sword.

Not aimed at me.

Not yet.

"Mara." His voice dropped. "Look at me."

"I am looking at you." I lifted my wrist between us. The seal bit deeper into my skin.