Chapter 10 · The Price of One Drop

The voice in my chest wasn't Kade's.

"Little sparrow. You've been hiding so well."

Morgana. Her words slithered through the mark my father carved into my ribs when I was six. The scar burned cold, like someone pressed dry ice against bone.

Kade's hand tightened on mine. "Lyra. Your eyes."

I didn't need a mirror to know what he saw. The veins around my irises always darkened when the mark activated. Black threading through gray.

"Who's talking to you?" His voice dropped. Alpha command bled through, but it didn't work on me. Never had.

"Someone who wants me dead." I yanked my hand free and pressed my palm against my ribs. The mark pulsed under my shirt. "Or worse."

Morgana's laugh echoed in my skull. "Dead? No, child. The council has better uses for bloodline traitors."

Kade swayed. Caught himself on the doorframe.

The black veins on his neck had spread to his jaw. His left eye was more gold than brown now. Wolf trying to surface, but the curse wouldn't let it. Just kept him stuck between.

"Sit down before you fall down," I said.

"Not until you tell me what's happening.