Chapter 6 · The Page That Bites Back

"Choose me or choose your brother," Soren said, and the black seal dragged him another inch under the trading house door.

My wrist was trapped in the gap. Stone pressed against bone. Blood from my palm ran over the old contract mark and disappeared into the cracks.

"You don't get to make this sound noble," I snapped. "You came here to stop me. You knew this would happen."

Soren's fingers locked around mine. His grip was hot, too hot, even with the black ink crawling up his arm.

"I came to keep you alive. That was before you wrote my name into a debt I can't escape."

"Then tell me the price!"

His jaw tightened. The seal pulled again.

Soren's shoulder slammed into the stone. A rough breath tore out of him, but he didn't let go of me.

From inside the exchange, Nolan shouted, "Mara, cut the seal! Now!"

"Shut up, Nolan!"

"He's using you!"

"And you're asking me to kill him!"

"I'm asking you to save yourself!"

The door groaned around my wrist. The black lines wrapped Soren's forearm, slipped beneath his sleeve, and tightened like living wire.