Page 73 of Zenith Tower

“I won’t.”

This time she smiled, brief and tired.

“I believe you,” she said.

The steward moved outside the door. His sleeve brushed the stone, followed by the soft click of a watch being opened.

“Before you go,” Delphine said, “tell me what it felt like.”

“Kieran’s Mark?”

She nodded.

I looked down at my hands. “Cold at the break. The channels on one side still carried warmth, but nothing crossed to the other. When I pressed against it, I could feel him beyond it.”

“Him, or the Mark?”

“Both. I couldn’t separate them.”

“And when the bond formed?”

“I felt the strain move into the line between us. After that, the break began to close.”

Delphine looked at her covered wrist.

“Mine has been broken for months,” she said. “Somehow, it’s still holding.”

The steward cleared his throat.

I stood, but Delphine caught my fingers before I could move away.

“Ask me again when it’s possible,” she said.

“I will.”

“Good.”

Her grip loosened.

I left with the shape of the fracture fixed in my mind: the channels cut too cleanly, the darkness held in place beneath her skin, and the question of what had been done to keep it there.

Jonah

Astra said my name from the doorway, and the buried line answered before I turned.

“Jonah.”

She used Hale in the corridors, as everyone did. Jonah belonged to quieter rooms. I had given it to her in the salle at Zenith Hall with my hands still tangled in her hair and more honesty in my mouth than I had intended. She had guarded it since.

I set aside the shirt I had been folding. “What happened?”

“Nothing happened.” She stepped inside and pushed the door until only a narrow seam remained open. The Tower did not allow us locks. Tonight it had given us a steward at the far end of the corridor who was more interested in his supper than in the exact position of my door. “I saw Delphine.”

That explained the strain around her eyes. It did not explain my name.

“How is she?”

“Still in pain. Still furious. More herself than when wefound her.” Astra looked down at her wrist. “She asked what happens if all three bonds close.”