Chapter 7 · Same thing

"Same thing."

"Call it whatever helps you keep walking."

Mara twisted the limiter. The metal bit into her skin. She drove her blade toward his ribs.

Riven caught her wrist before the knife landed.

His grip stopped inches from the fresh wound beneath his coat.

"You really can't help yourself," he said.

"You keep giving me reasons."

"If I die, the chain kills you."

"Then don't die."

"There. You understand the arrangement."

"I understand that if you collapse, I drag you. If you betray me, I cut the chain. If you try to control me—"

"You will do what?"

Mara stepped closer until the tip of her knife pressed lightly against his side.

"I will find a way to make you regret surviving me."

Riven looked down at the blade. A slow smile touched his mouth.

"That is the first useful promise you have made."

The limiter clicked.

Black light ran from the metal into her wrist.

Mara sucked in a breath. Riven's fingers tightened around her arm as the curse sealed itself.

For one sharp second, she felt everything he felt. His pain. His exhaustion. The hard beat of his heart. The cold fear he refused to show anyone.