Chapter 11 · Bid on a Brother

"You want to trade me for Milo."

Crowe's voice comes through the laptop speaker smooth as glass. Kael's standing behind me, close enough I can feel the heat rolling off him. His hand's on the back of my chair. Not holding me down. Just there.

"Not a trade," Crowe says. "A bid. You bring Kael Mercer to the Glass Meridian by midnight tomorrow, I'll release your brother. Clean exchange. No blood spilled."

"Bullshit," I say. "You'll kill us both."

"I don't need to kill you, Nora. You're already dead. That mark on your wrist? It's counting down. Six nights left, and Kael's not going to make it. You can feel it, can't you? The way it pulls when he bleeds."

She's right. I can. Every time Kael's heart stutters, the obsidian brand on my wrist goes cold. Like something's trying to drag me under with him.

"So here's the deal," Crowe continues. "You hand him over, I break the curse. You walk. Milo walks. Kael takes his family trial somewhere else, and I collect the bounty his own people put on his head."

Kael's hand tightens on the chair. I glance up.