Chapter 12 · The Claw Behind the Door

"Take your hands off my contract!" Aileen screamed as the black marks climbed over her wrist.

The fake holy relic slipped from her fingers and struck the stone floor. A brass shell cracked open. Inside it, a strip of black scroll writhed like a living thing.

I stepped over the broken shell and pressed my boot against the scroll.

"You brought a curse into my keep," I said. "Now you're going to tell me who gave it to you."

Aileen's convoy had broken through the outer gate less than a minute ago. Her white veils were still clean. Her guards were not. Blood streaked their armor, and two of them lay groaning beside the hall doors.

Varan stood three steps behind me, one hand braced against a pillar. His jaw was locked tight. The black lines under his skin had started moving again.

Kaiser watched from the raised platform, his knife already drawn.

"Sula," he said, quiet and sharp, "step away from the relic."

"Why? Afraid it'll bite me?"

"I'm afraid you'll give it another chance to bite you."

Aileen laughed through her panic. "You hear that? Even he knows what you are. She doesn't belong here, Varan.