Chapter 46 · He's Not Who He Says He Is

"You knew him." I slammed Julian against the stone wall before Alden's body finished sliding down the pillar. "You knew what he was talking about."

Julian's shoulders hit hard enough to shake dust from the ceiling. His golden light snapped around us, sharp and hot, but the contract caught it before he could shove me away. The black power wrapped around his wrist. Gold burned against it.

He stared down at me, breathing through his teeth. "Vesper. Let go."

"Try making me."

His hand closed around my wrist. Not hard enough to break anything. Hard enough to remind me that he still had more strength than I did, even with half his power locked behind my stolen fragments.

The contact punched his fear straight through the link.

Not a guess. Not nerves. Fear.

My grip tightened. "There it is."

His jaw locked. "There what is?"

"That little panic you keep hiding behind the hero smile. You felt it too, didn't you? When Alden said you didn't know who you really were."

"He was dying."

"People tell the truth when they're dying."

"People say whatever keeps their killer listening."

The black shard beside Alden's hand pulsed once.