Chapter 39 · The Last Hidden Door

"Don't look away."

I caught Kane's chin through the force wall. My fingers barely reached him, but the second I touched his skin, heat shot through my palm and straight into my chest.

Kane sucked in a sharp breath.

"Don't hide from me now," I said. "Not when you're seconds away from becoming a plug for the entire city."

His hand closed around my wrist. Even through the barrier, I felt the pressure of his grip.

"My birth name is on the record," he said. "Kane Valerian is the name the council gave me. The other one is older. It belongs to the first line of wardens."

"And that makes you the final vessel?"

"It makes me compatible."

"That's not an answer."

"It's the only one I've got."

Oscar stepped closer, his fingers still wrapped around the glowing line that ran from Kane's chains to the city core.

"He knows more than that," Oscar said. "He knows what happens when the core finishes feeding."

Kane's stare snapped toward him. "Oscar."

"Tell her." Oscar gave the line another sharp pull. "One spouse enters the breach. The other walks away with the city. That's the real marriage clause.