Chapter 28 · The Apostate Broadcast

“Take your hand off the console, Sera.” Kael caught my wrist before my fingers reached the upload switch.

His grip was hot, hard, and completely unfair. The pact snapped tight between us, a thin burn under my skin. My curse answered with a pulse that made the stolen broadcast rig spit sparks.

“Let go.”

“You touch that switch, and the Shard takes over.”

“Then move faster.”

“That’s not how this works.”

“It is if you want to stay alive.”

Kael shoved me back from the table. My shoulder hit the brick wall beside the roof access door. The impact knocked a breath out of me, but I still managed to smile.

He hated that smile. I knew because his jaw locked.

“You’re enjoying this,” he said.

“I’m enjoying watching you panic.”

“I’m not panicking.”

“You’re holding me like I’m a loaded weapon.”

“You are a loaded weapon.” His eyes dropped to my mouth for half a second before snapping back up. “And you’re one bad decision away from firing.”

The stolen Saint Shard sat inside the broadcast rig, sealed under three layers of copper wire and temple glass. It had spent the last hour showing us fragments of memory—