Chapter 14 · Bound to the Executioner: Leveling Up With My Enemy - Chapter 14: Marked Rogue

"Move your feet or I'll carve them off," Soren snapped, his voice a low rasp. He didn't look back at me, but his hand clamped onto my shoulder, his fingers digging into the muscle with a grip that promised bruises.

I stumbled, my boots skidding on the slick stone of the corridor. "A little warning would be nice, you arrogant prick!"

"Less talking, more running," he countered. He yanked me forward just as a wave of white-hot flame roared down the hallway behind us. The heat slammed into my back, searing the air out of my lungs. It wasn't normal fire; it was Purge Flame. The kind that didn't just burn skin—it ate souls.

I gasped, the smell of ozone and scorched rock filling my nose. "They're actually doing it. They're purging the whole sector."

"The Tribunal doesn't leave loose ends," Soren said. He stopped abruptly, slamming me against a damp limestone wall. The impact knocked the wind out of me, and for a second, we were chest to chest. I could feel the frantic thrum of his heart through the heavy leather of his inquisitor's coat.