Chapter 9 · The Clock Cuts Early

The blade dropped toward Evelyn’s chest.

She jammed Cade’s execution knife sideways and caught his wrist with both hands. Steel shrieked against steel. The point stopped an inch from her coat.

“Cade.”

His eyes were open, but the red mark burning across his palm pulsed with someone else’s order.

“Move,” he said.

“That’s your big command?” Evelyn shoved against him. “Try harder.”

“Move!”

The force behind his voice wasn’t his. It rolled through the clock vault and shook dust from the cracked ceiling. Behind him, the obsidian core flashed red. A thin line of light ran from it, through the execution seal on his wrist, and into the knife.

Vale’s voice came through the core, calm and clean.

“Complete the sentence, Officer Rourke. Remove the thief’s heart. Preserve the city.”

Evelyn’s shoulder hit the black stone housing. The recording device slipped in her hand, almost dropping into the gear trench below.

“Preserve the city?” she snapped. “You’re burning the whole damn place in four hours.”

“Your loop has made you careless.”

“No. Your lies have made you slow.”

Cade twisted her wrist. Pain shot up her arm.