Chapter 47 · Then why are you still here?

"Then why are you still here?"

"Because if I leave, you die."

"And if I die?"

"I die with you."

"That's not the whole answer."

"It's the only one you're getting."

The iron tether burned between their wrists.

Raven lifted two fingers and pushed the blade aside. Seraphina let him move it, but her gaze stayed locked on his.

"You want the core stabilized," he said. "You need me to siphon it. I need your mark to keep it from tearing me apart. So stop pretending this is about obedience."

"Everything about you is an argument."

"Everything about you is a command."

"Commands keep people alive."

"Not the ones you gave at the breach."

Her jaw went still.

There it was. The wound neither of them touched unless they wanted the other to bleed.

The breach. The bodies. Her brother's name hidden in the church records. The order that had sent Raven into the abyss as bait. The lieutenant who had worn her colors while trying to put a bolt through both their hearts.

Seraphina lowered the sword by an inch.

"You think I don't know what they did?"

"I think you know pieces.