Chapter 51 · The Crown Lock's Choice

"Get your hands off him!" I slammed my palm against the iron ward. Blue fire tore through Carson's body.

He crashed into the broken gate hard enough to bend the bars. Three iron sentries locked around him, hooked arms crushing his shoulders and throat. Red letters burned across his chest.

REBEL OFFICER.

"Ivy, don't touch the grid!"

"You're pinned to a gate. I wasn't planning to stand here and admire the view."

"That grid feeds on contact."

"Then tell it to choke."

I grabbed the nearest iron arm.

Pain punched through my fingers. My knees buckled, but I held on. The crown lock around my wrist flared beneath my skin, hot and tight, answering the rogue ward like it had been waiting for a fight.

Carson's head snapped toward me. "Let go. Now."

"No."

"Ivy."

"You don't get to order me around while your own city is trying to tear you apart."

The sentry twisted. Carson's back slammed into the gate again.