“I hate that it gets to be here.”
“Yes.”
“I hate that if we choose now, part of me will always know it was waiting underneath us.”
“No.”
The word is soft. Certain. I look at him.
His face is carved from control and pain. His wings are half-spread, shielding me from falling stone. His burned hand trembles in mine, but he does not let go.
“The system does not make the choice ours by wanting it,” he says. “It only makes theft more obvious.”
The words strike deep. I breathe once. Badly. Painfully. Then again.
“The bond could help stop it.”
“Maybe.”
“Banned word,” I say, half a grin tugging at my mouth.
His mouth almost moves. Almost.
“Necessary word,” he says.
The shaft pulses again.
This time, blue-white light bursts upward high enough to strike the ceiling. Stone rains down. The chamber screams around us. I see it then. Not the system’s map. Ours.
The bond-line is being pulled straight down into the throat, but every time Kavor resists, the light bends. Every time I choose to hold on instead of being dragged, the blue in my arm pushes back against the white-gray.
It’s not enough, but it’s something. If the system can use the bond, maybe we can too.
“Kavor,” I say.
His eyes lock on mine.
“I choose you.” His breath stops. “I already said it. I’m saying it again. I choose you. Not the system. Not the City. Not because we’re falling or bleeding or because some ancient machine thinks we’re a convenient handle.”
The bond-line brightens. Warm this time. Not cold. Kavor goes very still. I step closer, though every part of my body hurts.
“I choose the bond,” I say. The red flares in his eyes. So does wonder. “But not as a key. Not as a door. Not as a thing that makes me less myself.”
His voice is rough. “Never.”
“I choose it because I want more.”
His hand rises to my face. Stops. Waits. I lean into it.
“Yes,” I whisper.
His palm cups my cheek. The bond-line burns brighter, gold threading through blue. Below us, the system pulses harder, eager. Stupid, stupid machine. It thinks it understands.
Kavor lowers his forehead to mine.
“Say no,” he whispers. “If any part of you says no, I stop.”
The room is breaking. The City is screaming. The system is pulling. Adran is groaning against the wall. Everyone is watching.
