Chapter 18 · Marked for the Purge

"Take your hand off the panel, Nora." Sera's voice came through every speaker in the chamber. "If you trigger the purge, Elias dies first."

Nora kept her palm pressed to the control plate.

Behind her, Elias hit the floor hard enough to rattle the metal grating. His breath came out rough. Then the pain tore through Nora's ribs, hot and sharp, because the binding between them had no mercy.

She flinched.

Sera laughed softly. "There. You felt that. Imagine feeling it until his heart gives out."

"You talk too much for someone hiding behind a wall," Nora said.

"And you talk like you still have choices."

The control chamber shook. Blue lines raced through the glass floor beneath Nora's boots. Each one carried a thread of stolen memory—faces, names, childhood rooms, first kisses, last words. The grid was chewing through them faster now.

A warning flashed across the central panel.

MEMORY PURGE: 71% COMPLETE.

Nora's fingers tightened against the plate. "Stop the purge."

"Release the outlaw."

"He's already bleeding out."

"Then you should move faster."

Nora looked over her shoulder.

Elias was on one knee, one hand braced against the floor.