Chapter 33 · The Oath in Her Eyes

"Don't touch me unless you plan to let go." Cael's hand locked around my wrist as the courthouse roof dropped away beneath my boots.

I slipped on broken slate. One heel kicked empty air. Below me, the station court spun in a blur of smoke, shattered stone, and people screaming about the escaped death contract.

Cael hauled me back hard enough to slam my shoulder against his chest.

"You were falling," he said.

"I was moving."

"Toward a six-story drop?"

"Away from the wardens. Keep up."

His fingers tightened. Heat pressed through my torn sleeve. His breath hit the side of my face, rough and uneven, carrying ash and the sharp metallic bite of blood.

For half a second, neither of us moved.

Then the roof behind us exploded.

A bolt of red contract-fire tore through the tiles where my head had been. Cael shoved me down and covered me with his body as burning shards skipped across his back.

"Still think you had it handled?" he asked.

"You can complain after we survive."

"I wasn't complaining."

"That was your complaining voice."

He lifted his head.