Chapter 9 · The Morton Blood

"Get that crate away from Varan!"

Kaiser kicked the iron box across the floor before the green fire could crawl over his boots. The lid split on impact. Three sealed marrow vials rolled out, glowing under the skin-thin glass.

Varan shoved me behind him. His breath hitched, rough and wet. Cracks of red light ran from his throat to his wrist.

"Move," he growled.

"You move," I snapped. "You're the one falling apart."

His head turned just enough for one gray eye to find mine. Heat rolled off him. So did the sharp, bitter smell of blood under burned leather.

"Still giving orders while arrows are aimed at your neck?"

"Still pretending you can protect me while your marrow is splitting?"

Kaiser glanced between us. "Save the married-couple act. The tribute is infected."

The last word cut through the room.

Outside, soldiers shouted from the eastern wall. The warehouse fire had died down, but green smoke still pushed through the broken windows. It clung to the stone like wet paint.

I stepped around Varan before he could catch my wrist.

"Infected with what?"

Kaiser crouched beside the nearest vial. He didn't touch it.