Chapter 37 · Twenty Minutes

The Obsidian Tribunal doors are still banging shut when Valerius gets an arm under my knees and hauls me up like I'm a crate of rifles coming out of a fire.

"Put me down."

"No."

"Valerius—"

"I heard you the first time." His jaw's locked so tight the words come out flat. "Answer's still no."

Six hundred wolves stacked along the iron railing. Every one of them watches him carry me up the stairs. Ten minutes ago he stood in that chamber and tore our bond in half. Called me a wasted bond. A dead end. I watched the treaty come apart on the stone like wet paper.

Now his arm's clamped across my back like he thinks I'll evaporate.

Halfway up, I catch Vane's eyes in the crowd. That's the part that turns my stomach. He isn't angry. He's smiling like a man who's been handed a knife and hasn't picked a back yet.

I look away first.

His chamber door slams. He sets me down hard. My heels sting through the soles.

Cedar. Cold iron. That heat under it that used to make my knees quit.