Chapter 18 · No Next Loop

"Move, or I leave you here." Cade shoved Evelyn through the collapsing archway just as black fire snapped across the floor behind them.

She hit the stone on one knee. Heat punched through her coat. Cade landed beside her, one hand braced against the wall, the other clamped around the obsidian ring linking their wrists.

The ring had gone hot enough to burn. Red numbers crawled across its surface.

00:04:12.

Evelyn grabbed Cade by the collar and slammed him against the vault wall.

"You don't get to shove me anywhere."

"Then stop standing in fire."

"You knew the vault was going to burn."

"I knew it might."

"That is a very cute lie for a man with a court seal in his pocket."

His jaw tightened. A thread of smoke curled between them. Cade's face was streaked with ash, his dark hair damp against his forehead. He smelled like scorched leather and cold metal. His chest rose hard under her fist.

He looked down at her hand.

"Take it off."

"Make me."

For one sharp second, neither of them moved. His wrist was locked to hers. His body blocked the only clear passage.