Chapter 16 · The War Is a Lie

"You weren't supposed to save him."

Lya's eyes were open. Open meant alive, so Seraph didn't have room to feel anything else about it yet.

"Yeah, well." Seraph's arms shook, Kael's dead weight half dragged off the broken stone. "Add it to the list of things I wasn't supposed to do."

Kael's eyes cracked open next, black with soot, and the first thing he did was grab her wrist. Not gentle. A commander's grip, checking for a weapon, checking for a lie.

"You pulled fire out of the air," he said. His voice came out wrecked, but the accusation underneath it was steady. "That's not a court trick. What are you?"

"Your fiancée." She didn't pull her wrist back. Let him feel her pulse hammering against his fingers, let him think it was fear if he wanted. "Currently saving your life for the second time this week. You're welcome."

"Seraph." His thumb pressed the inside of her wrist, right over the vein, like he could read her heartbeat for the truth she wasn't giving him. "Answer the question."

"Later." She got a hand under his shoulder, hauled him up against the rubble.