Chapter 2

"Then prove me wrong."

He released her.

Nora slapped a seal onto the wall.

The mark wobbled.

Elias said nothing.

That was worse than mocking her.

"The grid is inside my head," she said. "Every pulse is throwing false images at me."

"It's not inside your head. It's reading your connection."

"And you know how to stop it?"

"Yes."

"You could've mentioned that before dragging me into a death trap."

"You would've tried to arrest me."

"I am trying to arrest you."

"Exactly."

He reached the basement door and kicked it open.

A wave of heat rolled over them.

The heartline chamber spread beneath the building, packed with copper rails and glowing channels. At its center, a black metal pillar had split open. Red energy poured from it into the floor. Every pulse made another memory flash across the walls.

Nora saw Finn's face.

Her younger brother, grinning over a broken console. His dark hair fell into his eyes. He was saying something, but the sound came out warped.

She stepped toward the image.

"Finn?"

Elias caught her arm. "Don't touch it."

"That was my brother."

"It's bait."

"You don't know that."

"I know exactly what the grid does when it wants a warden to move."

The image changed.

Finn stood behind the pillar, one hand pressed to the red channel. His mouth formed her name.

Nora pulled against Elias's grip. "Let me go."

"No."

"Elias."

"Look at me."

She did.

His face had gone pale. The red glow under his ribs pulsed harder, matching the image of Finn's hand.

"The heartline is using your brother's memory," he said. "If you follow it, it will take yours too."

"You expect me to leave him there?"

"I expect you to survive long enough to find the real signal."

"You don't get to decide that for me."

"Someone has to."

His grip slid from her arm to her wrist. He stepped closer, forcing her back against the cold control pillar. The space between them vanished. His breath warmed her jaw. His eyes stayed on hers, hard and bright and far too focused.

"You want to save him?" he asked. "Then use me."

Nora's throat tightened. "What does that mean?"

"My heart is linked to the grid. Your seal can cross the link."

"You said the heart was an anchor."

"It is."

"You also said the grid would eat me if I touched it."

"It will."

"That doesn't sound like a plan."

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

"And what do you get?"

"A chance to stop it from taking the rest of me."

"You want me to bind myself to a wanted bloodline heir because you're scared?"

His jaw tightened.

There.

The fear he kept burying under sarcasm and threats.

Nora saw it in the tiny pause before he answered. Heard it in the way his breath caught.

"I'm not scared," he said.

"Liar."

"You don't know me."

"I know your pulse just jumped."

His gaze dropped to her throat, then snapped back to her eyes.

"Careful, Warden."

"Or what?"

"You might find out what I do when someone pushes too hard."

"Try me."

For one dangerous second, neither moved.

Then the heartline screamed.

The chamber lights turned red.

Elias shoved his hand against the black pillar. The energy ripped through him. He cried out, knees buckling.

Nora grabbed his face and forced him to look at her.

"Stay with me."

"Don't—"

"Stay with me!"

"You can't link—"

"Tell me how."

"Your seal. Over my heart."

"You're going to feel this."

"I already feel everything."

She tore open the blood-stiff fabric over the glowing mark, keeping her eyes on his face instead of the wound beneath it. The red light beat against her palm before she even touched him.

Elias's hand closed around the back of her neck.

"Nora," he warned.

Her name in his mouth hit harder than it should have.

"If you bite me, I swear—"

"I wasn't going to bite you."

"You looked like you were considering it."

"You talk when you're afraid."

"And you threaten when you're terrified."

His fingers flexed against her neck.

"Do it," he said.

Nora pressed her palm to the glowing mark.

Pain tore through her.

Not heat. Not cold. A whole life slammed into her at once.

A boy locked in a metal room.

A woman whispering, "Don't let them put the crown in you."

A young Elias screaming while silver chains burned around his wrists.

Then the fear came.

Not the clean fear of a blade or a rifle. This was deeper. A child afraid that every person who touched him would leave him behind. A man afraid that if he stopped fighting for one second, the thing under his ribs would wake up and swallow everyone he loved.

Nora gasped.

Elias pulled her closer. "Get out."

"You hid this?"

"Get out of my head."

"You were a child."

"Nora."

"Who did this to you?"

"Break the link!"

The grid surged through both of them.

Nora's knees hit the floor. Elias dropped with her, one arm around her shoulders. Their hearts slammed in the same rhythm now. One beat. Two. Three.

The false image of Finn shattered.

A real signal flickered beneath it.

A voice, faint and broken, pushed through the chamber.

"Nora... don't follow..."

She grabbed Elias's coat. "Did you hear that?"

"Yes."

"It was him."

"Maybe."

"Don't say maybe."

"Then stop asking questions you don't want answered."

The black pillar sealed itself with a violent snap.

The building stopped shaking.

For half a breath, Nora thought they had done it.

Then every red channel in the chamber turned toward her.

Not physically. The symbols twisted, all pointing at her face.

Elias went still.

"What did you do?" he asked.

Nora tried to pull her hand away from his chest.

It wouldn't move.

A thin red line had formed between her palm and the glowing mark beneath his ribs. It crawled over her glove, up her wrist, and under her sleeve.

"I didn't do this," she said.

"You crossed the heartline."

"You said I could use the link."

"I said you could try."

"That would've been useful information before I touched you."

He grabbed her wrist and tried to tear the red line free.

The pain hit both of them.

Nora felt his fear again. This time, he couldn't hide it.

"Don't pull," he said. "You'll split the bond."

"What happens if it splits?"

"One of us dies."

The chamber doors slammed shut above them.

Boots pounded down the stairs.

Nora looked at Elias. He was still holding her wrist. His thumb rested over her pulse, and her heartbeat answered the one beneath his ribs.

"You knew this could happen," she whispered.

"I knew it might."

"You used me."

"I gave you a choice."

"You put your hand on my neck and told me to do it."

"And you still did."

She shoved him back.

The bond yanked them together again.

His chest struck hers. His hand caught her waist before she fell. Their faces stopped inches apart.

"Don't touch me," she said, breathless.

"Then stop falling into me."

"I hate you."

"Good. Hate keeps people alert."

The chamber speaker clicked on.

A clean female voice filled the room.

Nora knew that voice. Every warden did.

Council Inquisitor Sera Morn.

"Warden Kane," Sera said, "step away from Elias Vey and place your hands where the grid can see them."

Nora raised her blade. "Open the door."

"You have been exposed to forbidden blood magic."

"Open. The. Door."

"Your seal has been compromised. Your command authority is revoked."

Elias leaned close. "She's not talking to you anymore."

"What are you talking about?"

"Listen."

The red symbols brightened.

The speaker crackled again.

But Sera's voice was gone.

A new voice came through.

Nora's voice.

Flat. Calm. Perfectly clear.

"Nora Kane is now contaminated."

Her grip tightened around the blade.

Elias turned his head toward the sealed doors. "That's not the council."

The chamber lights died one by one.

Above them, rifles charged.

Nora felt Elias's heart beat against her palm, matching hers exactly.

The speaker said, in her own voice, "Terminate the contaminated warden."

The doors began to open, and Nora lifted her blade toward the first shadow coming through—