Chapter 4

"Get off me," she snapped.

"Gladly. Once you stop trying to die." He grabbed the back of her coat and hauled her behind a stone support. "Three squads outside. Maybe four. Sera's using the grid to track your pulse."

Another spell punched through the wall. Dust burst over Nora's hair and shoulders.

She shoved Elias's hand away. "You knew they were coming."

"I knew they were coming before you got shot for me. That was the part you ignored."

"You made me a target."

"No. Sera did that when she called you contaminated." His eyes cut toward the shattered doorway. "Now she gets to kill you, erase your memories, and call it public safety."

Nora pressed her palm against her ribs. Blood soaked through her fingers. Elias felt it. She knew because his face tightened when the pain hit him too.

The link between them pulsed beneath their skin.

Not a chain. Not exactly.

It was worse. Every sharp breath she took dragged across his nerves. Every movement he made tugged at the injury in her side. They were trapped inside the same warning bell, and the city kept hitting it.

"Can you break the connection?" she asked.

"Not while that limiter is active."

"Then break the limiter."

"You locked it."

"Because you were trying to run."

"I was trying to keep you alive."

"You don't get to pretend this is noble."

Elias leaned closer, one hand braced beside her head. His coat brushed her knee. Heat came off him despite the cold sparks crawling over his skin.

"I don't pretend anything," he said. "You want your brother. I want the grid destroyed. Sera wants both of us under a knife. That's the deal."

"Finn isn't part of your deal."

His jaw flexed. "Finn hacked into the relay three nights ago. He wasn't taken from the street. He went in."

Nora stared at him. "You said he was trapped."

"I said he could be trapped. There's a difference."

"You knew he entered the relay?"

"I knew he was looking for proof."

"And you kept that from me?"

"You were busy putting cuffs on me."

She caught his collar and dragged him down until their faces were inches apart. His breath touched her cheek. He didn't pull away. He looked at her mouth for half a second, then forced his eyes back to hers.

"Tell me where he is," she whispered.

"I can't."

"Can't or won't?"

"Both."

Nora drove her knee into his thigh. Elias grunted, but his hand closed around her wrist before she could strike again. His fingers were warm. Too warm. The contact sent a bright pulse through the link and made her breath catch.

He noticed.

Of course he noticed.

"Careful," he murmured. "Every time you hurt me, your ribs answer."

"Then stop giving me reasons."

"You keep asking questions you don't want answered."

A horn sounded outside. Not a normal alarm. Three low blasts, followed by a voice amplified through the district grid.

"Nora Kane, step away from the outlaw. Lay your weapon on the ground. You have been marked for memory seizure and immediate execution."

Her stomach dropped.

Elias's thumb stayed against her pulse. "There. Now you know what happens if they catch you."

"Take your hand off me."

"Say you won't run."

"You don't command me."

"Tonight, I do."

The next blast shook the tunnel. A line of white symbols crawled over the floor, searching for them. Nora pulled her wrist free and reached for the iron baton at her belt.

"What are you doing?" Elias asked.

"Getting us out."

"That tunnel dead-ends at the old relay chamber."

"Then we'll make a new exit."

"With what?"

Nora pointed at the silver case chained to his belt. "With the proof you stole."

Elias went still.

"You saw that?" he asked.

"I saw you protect it when the spell hit. Open it."

"No."

"Open it, or I drag you outside and let Sera decide what parts of you she wants to keep."

His eyes hardened. "You'd hand me over?"

"You think I won't?"

"I think you're angry enough to lie badly."

Nora stepped into him. The limiter chain between them clicked. His chest nearly touched hers. She could feel his heartbeat through his shirt, fast and uneven, matching the hard rhythm under her own ribs.

"Try me," she said.

For one second, neither of them moved.

Then Elias reached under his coat and pressed his palm to the case.

Black lines spread across the metal. The lock opened with a wet snap.

Inside lay a thin glass plate filled with moving symbols. Names. Power readings. Memory-loss counts. Whole blocks of Grayharbor marked in red.

Nora grabbed it.

"This is the grid report," she said.

"The part Sera didn't burn."

"It says the relay is drawing memories from civilians."

"Yes."

"And the council knew."

"Yes."

"How long?"

"Long enough to make you forget the question."

The symbols on the plate shifted. One line flashed bright red.

KANE, FINN — ACCESS CONFIRMED.

Nora stopped breathing.

"He's alive," she said.

Elias caught her elbow. "Don't jump that far."

"His name is here."

"Because the relay logged his access. It doesn't prove he walked back out."

"You said he went in for proof."

"I said he went in."

"You knew he was still inside."

"I suspected."

She slapped him.

The sound cracked through the tunnel.

Elias's head turned with the hit. Slowly, he looked back at her. His cheek reddened beneath her palm mark. He didn't retaliate. That almost made it worse.

"Feel better?" he asked.

"Not even close."

"Good. We agree on something."

The searching symbols reached the support column. A thin beam of white light sliced around the stone and found the edge of Nora's boot.

Elias pulled her behind him.

"Don't," she said.

"You can yell at me after we survive."

"I don't need you in front of me."

"You need my heart."

The words stopped her.

He tapped two fingers against his chest. Under the fabric, something dark pulsed with a dull red glow.

"The relay recognizes the curse in me," he said. "It won't open for you alone."

"Then we'll go in together."

"That wasn't an invitation."

"I didn't ask permission."

The tunnel door at the far end groaned. Soldiers were forcing it open from the other side.

Elias looked from the door to the plate in her hand. "If we enter the relay, the link will tighten."

"Define tighten."

"If one of us takes a serious hit, the other may stop breathing."

"May?"

"I don't have a better word."

"And if we don't enter?"

"They seize your memories. Then they use your own grid clearance to find Finn."

Nora's grip tightened around the glass plate.

"You said the relay could erase him."

"It can."

"Then show me how to stop it."

"You won't like the answer."

"I haven't liked a single answer you've given me. Keep going."

Elias stepped close enough that his shoulder pressed against hers. His voice dropped under the grinding door.

"We bind the connection on purpose. Not the accident you forced on us. A real memory tether. It will let us pass the relay's defenses and keep it from taking pieces of you."

"What does it cost?"

"Your pain becomes mine. Mine becomes yours. If either of us breaks the tether before the relay releases us, the backlash could kill us both."

"Convenient. You get a leash around me."

"You already put one around me."

"I put on a limiter."

"Same result."

"No. This time I choose."

His gaze held hers. The soldiers hit the door again. Metal bent inward.

"Choose fast," he said. "They'll be through in ten seconds."

Nora looked at the plate. Finn's name flickered, then dimmed.

"What do I have to give you?" she asked.

Elias's expression changed. Not softer. Sharper.

"A memory."

"Which one?"

"The one you lie about when you say you don't care if Finn is alive."

Her fingers curled around the baton.

"Try asking for that memory again and I'll break your nose."

"Then give me another. Your first clear memory of him. Something the grid can't fake."

"You want access to my head?"

"I need a memory the relay can't rewrite. A fixed point."

"And what do you give me?"