“And help her escape,” I added.
Thorne’s expression twisted. “We can’t! the king has ordered us to stand down! We no longer have jurisdiction over her.”
“Are you kidding me? We can’t just leave her to that sadistic bastard Vasquez!”
“These are orders Phoenix! I get that you care. But if you go after her, you’ll be deserters too. You know that, right?”
“I don’t care!” Leo snapped.
“Well, I do!” Thorne shot back. “That brand on your shoulder isn’t just for show. It binds you. The king owns you. We don’t just walk away.”
Leo’s expression hardened into something I’d never seen before. Quiet. Seething. Final.
Without a word, he stepped forward and pulled the knife from his belt. He yanked down his collar, revealing the branded mark seared into his shoulder.
“Fuck the king,” he said, voice razor-sharp.
And then he drove the blade into his own flesh.
“Leo!” I lunged for him. “What the hell are you doing?!”
Blood welled and spilled fast. He didn’t hesitate. His face twisted in pain, but he kept cutting, slicing through the brand with brutal precision.
Thorne turned ghost-white. “Stop—”
Leo roared—an actual roar—and shoved him back with his free hand.
I caught him before he collapsed, my palms already glowing with healing light. “You idiot. Hold still.”
Slade moved beside us and calmly plucked the knife from Leo’s shaking hand.
Leo was pale, bleeding, and barely standing. But his voice was steady when he said, “He doesn’t own me anymore.”
Thorne stared at it like it was an open grave.
“You have no idea what you’ve done,” he whispered, voice taut.
Leo’s lips curled into a cold smile. “Yeah, I do.”
I watched him closely, then powered up my own palms with my fire. Thorne turned to me, desperation flickering in his eyes. “Phoenix—don’t follow him. Don’t be an idiot.”
I stepped forward slowly, unfastening my cuffs and rolling my sleeve up to the shoulder. “If we wait, Vasquez will take her. If she ends up in that room, she’ll be gone for good.”
“This isn’t just rebellion anymore,” Thorne snapped. “You think carving it out frees you? You think you’re not still marked?”
He looked at Leo, then back to me. “There’s a failsafe. They told me after I got promoted. If one of us goes rogue—if a brand is destroyed—it sends a signal.”
“What kind of signal?” Slade asked, cold and quiet.
Thorne swallowed hard. “If any of us defies the brand—destroys it—every remaining Shade is coded to hunt them. It turns us into trackers. Killers. The moment you burn it,you become prey.”
Leo just laughed bitterly. “Then let them hunt.”
“You think this is loyalty?” I said, voice low. “Elle didn’t run because she was unstable. She ran because we didn’t help her. Because you turned her away.”
Thorne didn’t speak. He didn’t need to.
I lifted two fingers, pressed them to my brand, and let the fire rise.
