Chapter 4

Another hit crashed through the keep. The guards outside shouted. Metal screamed against metal.

Varan dropped to one knee.

His hand hit the stone hard enough to split the skin across his knuckles. A dark crack ran beneath his collarbone, glowing red through his shirt. His core was breaking again.

"Varan!" I shoved away from the table.

He caught my wrist before I could reach him. His palm was hot. Too hot. His fingers closed around me like a steel trap.

"Don't touch me."

"You can barely stand."

"I said don't." His breath dragged over my cheek, rough and burning. "The last marrow charge almost killed you."

"And your core is splitting open. We're both having a bad night."

Kaiser laughed once, then bent over and spat blood onto the floor.

The laugh died in my throat.

His poison had reached his lungs.

Three days ago, I had returned to my engagement feast with the memory of my own death still lodged in my bones. My family had scraped the marrow from my spine, then dumped me into a frozen trench so Aileen could wear my wedding crown.

I had come back for one reason.

To tear the Morton clan apart piece by piece.

Now my enemies' worst enemies were dying in front of me, and the blood contract binding us was still unfinished.

Perfect. Just perfect.

"Take your hand off me," I told Varan. "Or I break it."

His eyes lifted to mine. They were pale, hard, and fever-bright.

"Try."

I twisted my wrist. His grip tightened.

"Varan," Kaiser said, voice thin, "if she breaks my brother's hand, I want to watch."

"Save your jokes," I snapped. "You're next."

Kaiser pressed two fingers against the black lines in his neck. "I noticed."

The hall shook again.

This time, a blade punched through the gap beneath the main doors. The guards on the other side yelled as something heavy smashed into the barricade.

One of the northern soldiers looked at me. "My lady, we have maybe five minutes."

"You heard him," Varan growled. "Get out."

The soldier stared. "Commander—"

"Get out!"

They scattered toward the side passage. Nobody questioned him twice. Varan still had enough power to frighten trained killers, even with his chest cracking open.

I pulled against his hand again. "Let go."

"You're shaking."

"I'm angry."

"You're freezing."

"Your brother's poison is eating through his heart, and you're worried about my hands?"

His thumb slid over my pulse. One slow pass. Deliberate. Possessive.

My breath caught, and his mouth tightened as if he had heard it.

"Don't look at me like that," I said.

"Like what?"

"Like you own me because my name is written in your contract."

"Your name isn't written there yet."

The blood contract lay open on the iron table. Three lines had formed in dark red ink. Varan's name burned across the first. Kaiser's cut across the second.

The third line waited for me.

The contract needed my blood, my marrow, and my name. Without all three, the bond would keep feeding on the twins' failing cores. With all three, it would seal us together until one side died.

I had thought I could use them and walk away.

That had been before I learned the bond had teeth.

"If I sign this," I said, "you don't get to lock me in your fortress."

Kaiser wiped blood from his mouth with the back of his hand. "We can lock the doors. Whether you stay inside them is another matter."

"You still have jokes."

"I still have a tongue. The poison hasn't taken that yet."

I looked at Varan. "And you? What do I get?"

He leaned closer. Heat rolled off him in waves. His grip stayed around my wrist, but his fingers had gone unsteady.

"Protection."

"I don't need a guard dog."

"You need a pack that won't sell you back to Morton."

That hit harder than it should have.

The Mortons had sold my marrow, my engagement, and my life. Aileen had stood in the doorway while they dragged me away. She had worn my mother's necklace and watched me beg.

I shoved the memory down before it could soften me.

"Protection has a price."

"Yes."

"Say it."

Varan's gaze dropped to my mouth. His voice turned lower.

"You stay beside us until the contract is fulfilled. You heal what you damaged. You don't run when the enemy reaches this keep."

"And if I do?"

"I come after you."

"That supposed to scare me?"

"No." His thumb pressed harder against my pulse. "It's supposed to warn you."

Kaiser gave a weak, irritated cough. "Could you two threaten each other after she saves me?"

"You want saving?" I asked.

"I want to keep breathing. The distinction matters."

"Then stop talking."

"You first."

I snatched the carving knife from the table.

Varan's grip finally released me, but he moved with me. His body blocked the door, broad shoulders cutting off the soldiers' view. The heat of him brushed my back when I stepped toward the contract.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"The third marrow charge."

His hand closed around the knife before I could lower it.

"No."

"Move."

"You already paid twice."

"Your brother is dying."

"Kaiser can wait."

Kaiser lifted his head. "I would like to officially object to that plan."

"He can't wait," I said. "The poison is in his lungs. If it reaches the marrow, there's nothing left to pull out."

Varan's jaw flexed. "And you?"

"I'm standing."

"For now."

"You want me to watch both of you die because you're too proud to let me help?"

His face changed. Not much. A tightness around his eyes. A hard pull at the corner of his mouth.

"I want you alive."

The words landed between us.

Kaiser went still.

Even the guards outside seemed to fall silent for half a second.

I kept my eyes on Varan. "You barely know me."

"I know enough."

"You know I can work bone. You know I hate your family. You know I came here wearing another woman's name. That's not enough."

"It's enough to know you're mine to protect."

The knife slipped in my wet palm.

"Don't call me yours."

His fingers curled around the blade, and blood ran down his hand. He didn't let go.

"Then don't make me say it again."

I pulled the knife free.

His blood streaked across my fingers.

The contract flared.

Kaiser stumbled to the table. "Sula."

I looked at him. "What?"

"The bond knows your name."

My stomach dropped.

The false name I had given them was already written in the first treaty. Sula Morton. The discarded daughter. The bride who had run from her own execution.

But the blood beneath my fingernails had answered to something older.

Something buried.

I didn't let my face change.

"The contract knows what I wrote."

Kaiser watched me too closely. "No. It knows what you are."

Varan stepped between us. "Enough."

"You heard him," I said. "Stop digging."

Kaiser smiled without humor. "You keep saying that. One day, someone will listen."

I turned the knife toward my left hand.

Varan caught my elbow. "What are you doing?"

"Making a needle."

"Use steel."

"Steel won't carry marrow."

"Take mine."

"Your core is collapsing."

"Take mine anyway."

I looked down at his hand on my arm. His skin was burning against mine. Beneath his sleeve, the muscles in his forearm shook with the effort of staying upright.

"You'd give me your last marrow?"

"I'd give you anything that keeps you breathing."

Kaiser made a strangled sound. "I am also in the room."

"You can have the leftovers," Varan said.

"Charming."

I pulled my elbow free. "Both of you, shut up."

The knife bit into the base of my smallest finger.

Pain shot up my arm. I clamped my teeth together and cut deeper, following the thin white line beneath the skin. Bone resisted for one second, then snapped with a clean, ugly crack.

Varan swore.

Kaiser gripped the table. "You just broke your own finger."

"I noticed."

I pulled the small bone free.

Blood spilled down my wrist. The broken piece hardened in my palm, sharpening into a narrow white needle as my craft answered the contract.

Varan reached for me again.

"Don't," I warned.

He stopped with his hand inches from my waist.

That pause did something dangerous to the air between us. His breath brushed my temple. I could feel the heat of his chest at my back, close enough to touch but not touching.

"Tell me what you need," he said.

His voice had lost its command.

I swallowed. "Your brother's throat. Hold him still."

Kaiser gave him a tired look. "Try not to crush my windpipe."

"I won't promise that."

Varan moved behind Kaiser and locked one arm across his chest. Kaiser fought him for half a second, then sagged when another wave of poison twisted through him.

I knelt in front of them.

"Kaiser, listen to me. The needle goes under your ribs and into the poison line. If you move, it will tear your core."

"How comforting."

"If you scream, bite the chair."

"I have a better suggestion."

"No one cares."

I drove the bone needle into the black vein just below his ribs.

Kaiser arched against Varan's hold. His head snapped back, striking Varan's shoulder.

"Damn it!" Varan barked. "Sula!"

"Hold him!"

"I'm holding him!"

"Harder!"

Varan's arm tightened. Kaiser gasped. The poison surged beneath his skin, thick and black, then poured into the bone needle.

It burned through my hand.

I smelled scorched marrow. My fingers went numb.

Kaiser clenched his jaw. "You could have warned me."

"I did."

"You said it would tear my core."

"That was the warning."

"Your bedside manner is terrible."

"Your timing is worse."

The poison crawled up the needle and into my wrist. I grabbed the contract with my free hand and pressed my palm against the red lines.

The bond drank.

The hall lights went white.

Pain ripped through my bones from my fingertips to my spine. My knees struck the stone, but I kept my hand on the contract.

"Sula!" Varan's voice broke behind me. "Pull away!"

"Not yet."

"The bond is taking too much."

"I know."

"You don't know anything. Let go!"

"If I let go, he dies."

Kaiser laughed weakly against Varan's shoulder. "I hate to agree with her, but please keep going."

"You're both insane," Varan snarled.

"You married us," I said.

His arm locked around me from behind as I swayed. "The contract isn't complete."

"Then complete it."

The words came out before I could stop them.

His breath stopped against my hair.

Kaiser opened one eye. "That sounded almost romantic."

"Die quietly," I snapped.

The poison finally broke loose.

A black thread pulled out of Kaiser's core and vanished into the bone needle. His body jerked once. Then the veins in his throat faded from black to bruised purple.

He sagged.

Varan caught him and eased him onto the floor.

I pulled the needle free. My hand had gone blue to the knuckles.

Kaiser looked at it. "You have about ten seconds before that freezes solid."

"Then I won't waste them."

I crawled to Varan.

He was still standing, but barely. The crack beneath his collarbone had widened. Red light spilled through it. Every breath made his chest jerk.

"Sit down," I said.

"No."

"That wasn't a request."

"You don't command me."

"I just saved your brother."

"You saved nothing if you die now."

I grabbed the front of his shirt and dragged him to the contract table. He let me move him, which scared me more than his anger would have.

He dropped into the chair.

I stood between his knees.

His hands came to my hips on instinct. Heat soaked through my torn dress. His fingers spread wide, steadying me while my legs shook.

"Take your hands off me," I whispered.

"You said you needed support."

"I said nothing about this."

"You're leaning on me."

I looked down.

He was right. My thighs pressed against his. My bad hand rested on his shoulder. His breath moved over the bare skin at my throat.

For one sharp second, the hall vanished. There was only his heat, his grip, and the rough beat of his heart beneath my palm.

Then the core in his chest cracked.

Varan screamed.

The sound tore through the keep.

I shoved my hand against the split.

His blood burned through my palm.

"Stay with me," I ordered.

"Get away from me."

"No."

"Sula, move!"

"You want me gone? Say it when you're not dying."

His eyes locked on mine. "I want you alive."

"Then hold still."

I pushed the last of my living marrow into his core.

The contract pulled it from me in a brutal, steady stream. My spine seized. The white bone beneath my skin began to crack, one line at a time.

Varan's hands tightened on my hips.

"Stop," he said. "That's enough."

"Not yet."

"You're breaking."

"So are you."

"I can take it."

"You couldn't take a cup of tea without turning it into a war plan. Be quiet."

His mouth opened. No insult came.

The marrow struck his core.

Red light exploded under his skin. The crack across his chest pulled together, then split wider. I screamed as the backlash slammed into me.

A line of pain tore through my ribs.

Something inside my bone core broke.

Not a clean break. A permanent one.

A black-white fracture spread through my center and stopped just beneath my heart.

Varan felt it.

His face went savage. "What did you do?"

"Saved you."

"You damaged your core."

"I know."

"You knew this would happen?"

"I knew the price might be ugly."

"Ugly?" His hands left my hips and caught my face. His palms were hot against my cheeks. "You call this ugly?"

His thumbs shook against my skin.

I should have pulled away.

I didn't.

His forehead nearly touched mine. His breath was ragged, angry, warm enough to make my frozen lips sting.

"Don't look at me like I'm something you can keep," I said.

"Then stop putting your life in my hands."

"You keep taking it."

"Because you keep handing it to me."

The contract flared beneath us.

Kaiser stirred on the floor. "If either of you is planning to kiss, do it after the bleeding stops."

I jerked back.

Varan's fingers stayed on my face for one extra heartbeat before he let go.

I turned to the contract.

The third line was still empty.

My blood dripped from my broken hand onto the page.

"Sula," Kaiser said, quieter now. "Don't sign until you understand the final clause."

"I understand enough."

"No. You don't."

"You want to explain while your poison is still crawling through your lungs?"

"The contract won't only bind us to you. It will give the twins a claim over your marrow."

Varan stood too fast and nearly fell. "Kaiser."

"She needs to know."

I stared at the red lines. "A claim?"

Kaiser pushed himself onto one elbow. "If your core breaks again, we can draw from it. If ours break, the contract will force you to repair them. No distance. No refusal. No running."

Varan's face hardened. "That's not how it works."

"That's exactly how it works. You read the contract before you signed."

"I thought you read it."

"I read the parts I liked."

A laugh burst from me. It came out cracked and ugly. "You two are unbelievable."

The doors shook under another blow.

A voice roared from outside. "Open for the Morton authority! Sula Morton, surrender the keep!"

My blood turned cold.

Varan stepped in front of me. "They found us."

"They were always going to find us," Kaiser said. "The contract flare told them where to look."

I looked at the empty line.

My old family name stared back from the edge of the page.

Morton.

The name I planned to bury in their blood.

The name that had now led them straight to me.

"If I sign," I said, "they can't take me."

Varan looked over his shoulder. "If you sign, you belong to the keep."

"You said protection."

"I said I would come after you."

"Same thing, apparently."

The door burst inward one inch. Iron groaned. Snow and splinters blew through the gap.

Kaiser dragged himself upright. "Sula, we need your answer."

I lifted the bone needle.

Varan grabbed my wrist, but this time he didn't stop me. His thumb pressed against the pulse beneath my skin.

"Say it," he said. "Say you choose this."

"I choose revenge."

"That's not what I asked."

His eyes held mine. No command now. No threat. Just heat, blood, and the hard truth that I could still walk away before the ink closed around me.

I placed the needle against my palm.

"I choose the contract," I said.

The blade touched skin.

A horn sounded outside.

Once.

Twice.

Then running footsteps thundered down the corridor.

The side door flew open, and a scout stumbled inside with blood across his face.

"Commander!" he shouted. "The outer ridge is gone. Three thousand Morton riders have surrounded the keep, and they're demanding the runaway bride."

Varan's grip tightened around my wrist.

Kaiser looked at the blood contract.

The scout pointed at me. "They say if Sula Morton isn't handed over before dawn, they'll—"

"They'll what?" I asked, raising the bone needle to my skin.