Chapter 12 · Then help me break the lock

"Then help me break the lock."

"How?"

"Give me the vow. Every word."

"You think I remember it?"

"You recited it when you signed."

"That was years ago."

"You enforce it on other people."

"I don't recite the whole thing."

"Convenient."

"You think I chose this?"

He slammed his fist into the wall. Stone cracked under his knuckles.

"You think I woke up one day and asked for a black vow to eat through me? You think I wanted to spend every night counting how many hours I had left?"

The passage went still except for the pounding behind the gate.

Dax looked away first.

I had seen him threaten men twice his size. I had seen him walk through a riot with blood on his face and silver-eyed citizens reaching for his throat. He'd never looked at me like that.

Not helpless.

Just furious that I had noticed.

"Say it," I told him.

His mouth tightened. "Mara—"

"Say the vow."

"If I say it, the lock will hear."

"It already hears you."

"It may take the rest."

"Then we make it listen to me too."

He grabbed my shoulders and pulled me close.