Chapter 74 · Heir Confirmed

"Don't touch it." Cassian caught my burned wrist an inch from the master gate.

"Move."

His fingers closed tighter.

Heat from his palm sank through my raw skin. Pain shot up my arm and nearly dropped me to my knees. Behind him, the Tideheart console spat blue sparks across the chamber.

Every public screen in Blackwater carried the same order.

MARA QUILL. TRAITOR. BLOODLINE CONTAMINANT. EXECUTE BEFORE THE NEXT FLOOD CYCLE.

The city had already picked its excuse.

Me.

Cassian dragged me away from the core. His soaked coat scraped over my shoulders before his chest slammed into mine. His breath brushed my ear.

"Grab the gate like that, and it'll cook your nerves."

"Then let go and let me cook."

"You think dying here saves the lower wards?"

"No." I yanked against his grip. "I think standing here while Evelyn drowns three hundred thousand people makes you useful to her."

The console cracked again.

Blue light jumped over the floor and burned a black line between our boots.

Cassian shoved me behind him. "Stay back."

"You rejected me in front of the whole harbor, remember? You don't get to order me around now.