Chapter 24 · The Boy Behind the Grid

"Don't touch the seal." Elias caught Nora's wrist before her fingers reached the black line carved across the grid door.

Pain snapped through her arm. Not from his grip. From the matching mark burned under her skin.

"Let go," she said.

"You touch that, and the grid takes another piece of you."

"Finn is behind it."

"I know."

"Then stop standing there like a man who's already decided to leave him."

His jaw tightened. The red glow from the door cut across his face, catching the blood at the corner of his mouth. He looked exhausted. Dangerous. Too close.

Nora pulled against his hand. His fingers closed harder, warm around her wrist.

"You don't get to order me around," she said. "Not after dragging me through half the city with your curse chewing holes in my head."

"I didn't drag you. You followed me."

"You threatened to break my neck."

"You were pointing a warden's blade at my throat."

"You deserved it."

"Probably."

The answer stopped her for half a second.

Elias leaned closer, lowering his voice. "But if you cross that line, your brother won't be the only person trapped in the grid.