Page 86 of Zenith Tower

“Neither did Hale.” Marrow’s eyes remained on Kieran’s wrist. “You saw what followed.”

The stewards took Kieran by the arms.

He did not fight them, though the effort it cost him moved through our bond like a held breath.

I stepped toward him.

The green-gold line surged again.

Marrow watched it happen. “Separate them.”

The stewards pulled Kieran back. Hale moved at the same moment, but the men beside him closed around his shoulders before he reached the stair.

“Don’t touch her,” he said.

“Then tell her to stay where she is,” Marrow replied.

Hale’s gaze found mine across the passage. The line strained between us.

“Astra.”

I stopped.

Kieran turned his head toward me as far as the steward’s grip allowed. Fear moved through our completed bond without disguise now. Resolve steadied beneath it. He held my gaze until I understood what he wanted from me:Stay here.

“You don’t know what they’re going to do,” I said.

“No.” His mouth tightened. “But you can still feel me.”

“Feeling you afraid in another locked room is not the same as having you here.”

“I know.” His voice lowered. “Use what we have.”

Marrow nodded toward the eastern passage.

The stewards turned Kieran away from me.

I followed.

Marrow stepped into my path. “If you leave this corridor, Hale will be moved out of the residential wing before you reach the stair.”

I stopped so sharply that Caspian’s hand closed around my arm.

“You’d move him because I followed Kieran?”

“Continue, and he moves.”

“He isn’t leverage.”

Kieran’s anger struck through our bond. He twisted against the stewards, not enough to break their hold, enough to make them tighten it.

“Don’t use him to keep her still,” he said.

Marrow did not look back. “Walk.”

Kieran’s gaze found mine over his shoulder.

I stayed where I was.