Chapter 24 · The Name They Stole

"Don't touch me, Sula."

Kaiser's marked hand clamped around my wrist before I could reach the black vein crawling up his palm.

His fingers were cold. Not winter-cold. Dead-cold.

I stared at the bone-white symbol branded into his skin. It had my shape, my craft, my blood in every sharp little hook.

"You brought it back with you," I said.

"I brought back a hand. The mark came with it."

"That's not what I meant."

Kaiser pulled me closer. His coat brushed my knees, and his breath slid over my mouth. He still smelled like smoke, iron, and the bitter herbs the fortress healers kept burning around him.

He looked like himself.

That was the problem.

His silver eyes were clear, his jaw steady, his voice smooth enough to cut skin. But the mark pulsed between us, answering my heartbeat instead of his.

Behind him, every iron door in the command hall slammed shut.

Varan's head snapped toward the walls. "Kaiser."

"I didn't do that."

"You hold the fortress key," I said. "Try again."

Kaiser's mouth tightened. "I said I didn't do it."

A red line flashed across the stone floor.