Chapter 13 · The Blood Beneath the Seal

"Tell me why you need my blood, or I cut you again."

Calian stopped with his hand still wrapped around my wrist.

The blade rested against the center of his palm. One more inch and it would split skin.

His eyes dropped to the knife, then lifted back to mine. Cold gray. Too steady. He had faced armies with that look. He had dragged me out of an execution trench with it.

He hadn't expected me to turn the same steel on him.

"Put the knife down, Seraphina."

"That's not an answer."

His fingers tightened around my wrist. Heat pressed into my skin, hard enough to leave marks.

"You're in my fortress, standing over a war map, holding a blade to my hand. You don't get to make demands."

"Funny. You made plenty when you chained me to your name."

The corner of his mouth moved, but it wasn't a smile. More like a warning trying to become one.

"I saved your life."

"You bought it. There's a difference."

His jaw locked.

Good. Let him feel one thing he couldn't command away.

The map table sat between us, covered in black pins and red thread. Northern borders. Pack territories.