"If you try anything, I'll put you down myself."
Lucas stepped behind my chair and unlocked the restraint on my right wrist.
The metal sprang open with a sharp click.
I yanked my arm in and closed my fist around the chip.
Lucas bent over my shoulder. His breath brushed my neck, warm against skin already crawling with fear.
"You've been waiting all night to say that."
"I've been waiting all night for you to stop lying."
"Then we're both disappointed."
His arm came around my shoulder.
I drove the chip toward his throat.
He caught my wrist before I could touch him. His fingers clamped down, dragging my back against his chest.
For one ugly second, I was trapped between the chair and him. His coat scraped my cheek. His breath hit my ear.
"Bad move," he murmured.
"You're the one who got close."
"You're not in a position to flirt."
"Who said I was flirting?"
His grip tightened.
"You keep smiling at me like you want me dead."
"Maybe I want you distracted."
"That won't work."
"You're still holding me."
His jaw locked.
The execution console beeped once.
A red line lit across the floor beneath my boots.
Lucas's head snapped toward the console. "Why is the rig armed?"
The guard at the panel went pale. "It wasn't me. The sentence timer just engaged."
"Cancel it."
"I can't. The command floor locked me out."
The public feed exploded across the wall screens.
DO IT.
TRAITOR'S END.
MAKE HER CONFESS.
My throat tightened. The chip cut into my palm. Blood slid over its black surface.
Lucas shoved me back into the chair and reached for the console.
"Warden, wait."
"Shut up."
"Check the chip. Now."
His hand stopped above the controls.
"You don't get to threaten me with my sister."
"I'm not threatening you. I'm telling you she left proof."
His eyes cut to mine. "Proof of what?"
"You tell me."
The machine behind me groaned.
Steel restraints snapped over my ankles.
Lucas's hand hovered above the kill switch.
I pulled against his grip. "Look at me."
He did.
His face was inches from mine. His pupils had widened. His breath touched my lips, hot and uneven.
"If you press that button," I whispered, "you'll never know why Mara hid the chip inside my bloodline seal."
He went still.
"What did you say?"
"You heard me."
"You don't know anything about her seal."
"I know she used a private code when she was scared. I know she called you Fox when nobody else was listening."
His fingers tightened around my wrist.
"Keep her name out of your mouth."
"I know she stopped using your name three days before she disappeared."
His face changed. Barely. Just enough.
"Who told you that?"
"Your sister."
The execution floor went silent.
Even the guards stopped moving.
Lucas stared at the chip in my bloody hand. "Mara is dead."
"That's what your command told you."
"You're lying."
"Then press the button. Prove me wrong."
"You think I won't?"
"I think you're terrified of what you'll hear if you do."
His eyes cut back to mine.
"Don't push me."
"You already pushed me into a chair and strapped me down. What exactly do you think I have left to lose?"
The machine gave a hard mechanical snap.
Lucas spun toward the console, but the switch was already glowing beneath his hand.
I slammed my bleeding palm against the scanner beside his arm.
The chip touched the glass.
A blue pulse ripped through my hand.
I screamed.
Lucas grabbed my shoulder. "What the hell did you do?"
The scanner flashed red.
Then white.
The chip melted into the reader with a sharp crack.
Every screen in the room went dark.
"No," the guard whispered. "That's not supposed to happen."
The execution rig fired.
Lucas yanked me sideways just as a bolt slammed into the chair. Metal burst apart where my chest had been. Heat tore across my ribs.
The impact threw me against him. His arms locked around my waist before I hit the floor.
His mouth brushed my temple.
"Stay down."
"Get off me."
"You want to argue while the rig's trying to cook you?"
"I can multitask."
"Then multitask quietly."
Another warning alarm shrieked.
Lucas dragged me behind the console. His body covered mine, broad and solid. One hand braced beside my head. His knee pressed between mine as he shielded me from the sparks raining across the floor.
I felt every breath he took against my hair.
"Move," I said.
"Stay where you are."
"You're crushing me."
"You're alive. Try appreciating that."
"I'll appreciate it when you're not using me as a human shield."
"You're welcome."
The public screens flickered back on.
Not with my charge.
A single audio file appeared across every display.
MARA VALE — PRIVATE TESTIMONY
Lucas stopped breathing.
A woman's broken voice spilled through the speakers.
"Fox, if you're hearing this, don't trust the command floor. Don't trust—"
Static ripped through the recording.
Color drained from Lucas's face.
I shoved against his chest. "You know that voice."
"Shut up."
"You know her."
"I said shut up."
"You don't get to shut me up after trying to execute me."
The recording clicked.
Mara spoke again, closer this time. Like she was hiding beneath a desk.
"The girl they killed wasn't Evelyn Voss. They took the wrong body. The real heir is alive, and she's carrying the proof."
Lucas looked at me.
Not at the blood covering my hand.
Not at the restraints around my ankles.
At my face.
The chip's screen opened beneath the audio file.
A new record appeared in white text.
EVELYN VOSS — DECEASED.
Lucas's hand snapped toward the console.
I caught his sleeve.
"If that file says what I think it says, you didn't arrest a terrorist. You—"