Chapter 11 · And the cost?

"And the cost?"

"You stay within ten feet of me. You share the pain when the curse spikes. You can't lie about plague evidence."

"What else?"

His silence answered first.

Mara pushed the knife higher. "What else, Riven?"

"If one of us dies, the other gets dragged after them."

"That's not a stabilizing vow. That's a death sentence."

"It's already there. The vow makes it controllable."

"And if I refuse?"

"The limiter breaks in forty seconds."

"You counted?"

"I count everything."

The clinic alarm shrieked. Boots pounded somewhere beyond the front doors.

Mara looked at the burning page. Then at the sword in his hand. Then at the man holding her brother's life over her like a leash.

"You swear this won't bind my choices?"

"I swear it won't bind anything except the curse."

"Swear it by your blood."

His expression hardened. "You know what that costs me."

"I know exactly what it costs you."

He cut his thumb with the edge of his sword. A bead of black blood welled up.

"Riven—"

"You wanted blood. Take it."

He pressed his thumb to the page.

Mara's anger fought with the clock inside her chest. Forty seconds had become thirty.