Chapter 17 · The Silver Bone Casket

"Get your hands off him!" I slammed my shoulder into the nearest holy pillar, but the white stone didn't move.

Light snapped across the ice. It caught my wrists, my throat, and the black contract mark beneath my collarbone. My knees hit hard enough to split the skin.

Varan roared behind me.

Not shouted. Not cursed. Roared.

The sound shook frost from the fortress walls. His chains dragged over the ice as he threw himself at the Imperial Purifier again. Three soldiers drove spears through the links and forced him back.

"Stop fighting, Commander," the Purifier called. His voice was smooth and dry. "Every strike pulls the contract tighter. Break the pillars, and the mark will eat through her heart."

"You really love hearing yourself talk," I spat.

The Purifier turned his pale mask toward me. Silver lines covered it, shaped like a smiling skull.

"Sula Morton. Still pretending you have choices?"

"I'm not pretending. I'm deciding which part of you to break first."

He lifted one hand.

The holy pillar at my left flared. Pain ripped through my bones. My fingers locked against the ice, and my teeth clacked together.

Varan went wild.

"Touch her again!" he snarled.