"You could've warned me," Evelyn snapped.
"You could've stayed where I put you."
"I don't take orders from executioners."
"You do when they're the only reason you're breathing."
He shoved the door shut and dropped the iron bar into place.
The soldiers slammed into it from the other side.
One impact. Two.
The bar bent.
Cade turned toward Evelyn. "How do we get out?"
She stared at him. "You don't know?"
"I asked you."
"You built this courthouse."
"I enforce sentences. I don't crawl through walls."
Another impact shook the door.
Evelyn looked down the passage. The flames had reached the lower level. Black light crawled along the ceiling, moving against the direction of the smoke.
She grabbed Cade's sleeve. "There."
"That's fire."
"It's a memory burn. It follows old stone."
"Can you stop it?"
"No."
"Can you control it?"
"Maybe."
"That's not good enough."
"Then go die somewhere else."
She ran toward the black flames.
Cade cursed and followed.
The passage narrowed near the old foundation wall. A crack split the stone from floor to ceiling. Fire poured through it without heat, black tongues carrying flashes of other people's lives.
A wedding. A murder. A little girl laughing beside a clock.
Evelyn reached toward the flames.
Cade seized her wrist. "Don't."
"Let go."
"You don't know what it will take."
"I know exactly what it takes."
"Your memory."
She froze.
His grip loosened, but he didn't release her.
"How do you know that?" she asked.
"Your file."
"My file says I can steal memories. It doesn't say the fire steals back."
"It says you lost three years after the North Bridge job."
Her throat tightened.
"You read my file?"
"I signed your sentence."
"Then you know I won't let this city burn."
"Why?"
"Because I live here."
"That's not enough."
"Because my sister lives here."
The words came out before she could bury them.
Cade watched her face. "You said your sister was dead."
"I said she was gone."
"Evelyn."
"Don't say my name like you own it."
The door behind them cracked.
Cade stepped closer. His hand slid from her wrist to the chain between her cuffs. He pulled her toward the flame and kept his body between her and the passage.
"If you touch that fire," he said, "you may lose the memory of her."
"Then don't let me lose it."
"You trust me now?"
"No. I need your hands free."
"For what?"
"To drag you through if the fire takes mine."
His stare held hers.
The fire hissed against the stone. Black light washed across his face.
"If you betray me," Evelyn said, "I will find the memory of the worst thing you've ever done and make you watch it every day."
"You'd have to survive."
"Make sure I do."
For one sharp second, his thumb pressed against the chain between her wrists.
Then he unlocked the cuffs.
The metal dropped between them.
"You have ten seconds," he said.
"You count slow."
Evelyn shoved her hand into the fire.
The world split open.
She saw Cade standing at the west vault door. His signet pressed into red wax. A hooded official beside him. A page covered in fresh ink.
She saw the clock hands jump.
She saw the official turn toward the burning city and say, "Once the thief dies, the loop closes."
Evelyn tried to grab the memory.
Something grabbed back.
A voice slid through her skull.
You are late again.
She screamed.
Cade caught her around the waist and hauled her out of the flames. Her palm burned with cold. Her knees failed.
"What did you see?" he demanded.
"Your seal. The order. Someone was there."
"Who?"
"I couldn't see their face."
"Who?"
The fire surged behind him.
Evelyn grabbed his coat and pulled him close. "Why did you burn Grayharbor?"
His eyes locked on hers.
"I didn't."
"Then why were you at the vault?"
"I was trying to stop it."
"You were holding the order."
"I was told it was an evacuation command."
"By who?"
"The High Court."
"Which member?"
Cade's face changed.
Not fear. Recognition.
He looked past her, toward the black fire.
"No," he whispered.
"Who was it?"
The vault door behind them burst open.
A wave of fire tore through the passage.
Cade shoved Evelyn away and raised his arms. The blast hit him full in the chest. He slammed into the wall.
"Cade!"
She ran to him.
The fire wrapped around his coat. He tried to stand and failed.
Evelyn grabbed him through the flames.
His body was hot beneath her hands. His fingers closed around her wrist, weak but stubborn.
"Leave me," he rasped.
"Shut up."
"You'll burn."
"You promised to keep me alive."
"I didn't promise anything."
"You unlocked my cuffs. That's close enough."
He stared at her through the smoke. "You think I doomed the city."
"I think your seal did."
"And if it was forged?"
"Then help me prove it."
"Why should I?"
Evelyn tightened her grip. The fire climbed over her sleeve.
"Because if I die, you lose the only person who saw the order."
"You could be lying."
"I could."
"You could be the one who started this."
"Then kill me after we stop it."
Cade's eyes dropped to her hand around his wrist.
His pulse beat against her fingers.
"You really don't know when to stop," he said.
"And you really don't know when to choose the right side."
The fire reached her shoulder.
Cade pulled her closer, one arm locking around her back. His mouth came near her ear.
"When the clock strikes one," he said, "run east. Don't trust anyone wearing the court's black pin."
"You're coming with me."
"No."
"That's not a choice."
"It is when I'm the one holding the sword."
"Then drop the sword."
He looked at her.
The flames roared around them. The city bells began to move again, one broken chime after another.
Twelve forty-nine.
"Cade," she said. "Who was beside you at the vault?"
His grip tightened.
"Tell me."
"It was—"
The fire swallowed the rest.
Evelyn felt the memory rip free from her hand. The last thing she saw was Cade reaching for her face, his fingers stopping just short of her cheek.
Then the pain vanished.
"No!" he shouted.
The courthouse disappeared in black light.
Evelyn woke with a gasp and a pistol pressed against her forehead.
She was on a stone floor. Her hands were free. Her lungs worked. Her clothes were whole.
Across from her, Cade Rourke stood with his gun raised.
No blood marked his nose. No burn blackened his coat.
His eyes were colder than before, but his hand shook once around the pistol grip.
A black obsidian ring circled Evelyn's right index finger.
It hadn't been there before.
Tiny red numbers glowed across its surface.
12:47:00.
The clock began to count down.
Cade's pistol pressed harder against her skin.
"Don't move," he said. "Don't touch the ring. Don't try to steal my memory."
Evelyn stared at him.
"You remember," she whispered.
His finger tightened near the trigger.
"Who are you?" he asked.
Evelyn's heart slammed against her ribs.
She looked at the ring, then at the man who had just died in her arms.
"You already—"