Chapter 17 · You'll tear yourself apart

He reached into his chest.

Nora grabbed his wrist. "Don't."

"Let go."

"You'll tear yourself apart."

"That happens when the grid takes it anyway."

"Elias—"

"You said you wanted your brother. Take the heart and open the containment channel. Finn might live. The purge will keep running, but you'll have him."

His gaze dropped to her hand around his wrist.

"Or," he continued, "use the heart to cut the grid loose. The purge stops. The archive dies. Finn dies with it."

Nora stared at him. "You're putting that choice in my hands?"

"You wanted to be the council's perfect weapon. Prove you can choose who gets hurt."

"Go to hell."

"Already been there."

He pulled free.

The crystal came out with a flash of red light.

Elias made a sound through clenched teeth. He dropped to one knee, one hand braced on the floor. The heart rested in his palm, cracked from edge to edge, glowing like a dying coal.

Nora couldn't move.

"Take it," he said.

"Put it back."

"Take it."

"You're insane."

"That's not new information."

The heart beat once in his hand. The bond slammed pain through Nora's chest.