Chapter 5

Rusk leaned close. His leather glove scraped my skin.

"You don't give orders here," he said. "You don't even breathe without permission."

"Then stop touching me."

"You think that blood contract made you important?"

"No. I think the fact that your hand is shaking makes you nervous."

His jaw locked.

Behind us, the carriage door slammed open again. Calian stepped down with one hand resting on the hilt of his sword. He didn't hurry. He never did. The guards lining the citadel steps straightened the second his boots touched the ground.

His eyes went to Rusk's hand.

"Remove it," Calian said.

Rusk released me so fast my arm swung back. I caught my balance, then rubbed the red marks on my skin.

"My lord," Rusk said, bowing. "I was securing the prisoner."

"She is my bride."

The words landed harder than Rusk's grip.

Every guard heard them. Every servant near the iron gate heard them. A few heads turned before snapping away again.

I lifted my chin. "Funny. You didn't sound so proud of that when you chained me to the carriage floor."

Calian's stare cut to me. His pale eyes held that same dangerous stillness he wore during the blood trial.

"You were trying to escape."

"I was trying not to be hauled into your fortress like stolen cargo."

"And yet you arrived."

"Dragged."

"Alive."

"Barely impressed."

A guard coughed into his fist. Rusk glanced at him, and the sound stopped.

Calian moved closer. The space between us vanished one quiet step at a time. His coat brushed my sleeve. Frost clung to the dark fabric, melting against the heat coming off him. He smelled like iron, smoke, and the sharp cedar oil rubbed into his gloves.

"Keep provoking me," he murmured, low enough for only me to hear, "and I may decide the chains were a better idea."

"Try it."

His gaze dropped to my mouth for half a second.

Then his fingers closed around my wrist.

The pact mark burned.

I sucked in a breath. "Let go."

"Walk."

"I said let go."

"And I heard you."

His grip wasn't painful. That was the problem. His palm was hot through my sleeve, steady and powerful, while the mark pulsed between us like it recognized him. My body leaned toward that heat before my pride slammed the door shut.

I yanked once.

He didn't move.

"You enjoy this," I said.

"Your temper? No. Your refusal to understand danger? Less than that."

"You brought me here as a hostage. Don't pretend you're worried about my safety."

His thumb pressed once against the inside of my wrist.

The mark answered with a sharp flash beneath my skin.

Calian's mouth tightened. "You will learn the difference between a hostage and a protected asset."

"I already know the difference. A hostage gets threatened. A protected asset gets threatened with better manners."

Rusk snorted.

Calian turned his head. "Did you find that amusing?"

The captain went rigid. "No, my lord."

"Good. Open the inner gate."

Rusk hesitated. "The bride must be searched first."

I laughed once. "The bride? I'm standing right here. You can ask me yourself."

"You carry treason in your blood," Rusk said. "Your father hid royal weapons. Your household funded the rebellion. You were engaged to Marcus Thorne, and now you stand beside the enemy commander wearing his pact mark. I want to know what else you're carrying."

"A knife, a broken hairpin, and enough reasons to hate you. Pick one."

His eyes narrowed. "Search her."

Two female guards stepped forward.

Calian's hand tightened around my wrist. "No."

Rusk turned. "My lord, the order is standard."

"I said no."

"If she enters the citadel without inspection—"

"She enters under my authority. If she has a weapon, it belongs to me. If she has a secret, it belongs to me. You will not put your hands on her."

Rusk's mouth thinned. "You are making an exception for her."

"I'm making a correction for you."

The captain looked at me, then at the mark hidden beneath my sleeve. "She has already bent your judgment."

The courtyard went still.

Calian stepped between us.

Not fully. Just enough that his shoulder blocked Rusk's view of me.

"Say that again," Calian said.

Rusk's glove flexed at his side. "I said the blood pact may be affecting your judgment."

"It isn't the pact affecting my judgment."

Calian leaned in until only a breath separated his face from Rusk's.

"It's your stupidity."

Rusk lowered his head. "Open the gate."

The iron bars groaned apart.

I expected Calian to pull me inside. Instead, he stopped at the threshold and looked down at the stones beneath our feet. A thin line of black metal ran through the courtyard, cut into the ground like a buried vein.

The hairs on my arms lifted.

"What is that?" I asked.

Rusk moved too quickly.

He drove his gloved palm toward the line.

A red rune snapped awake beneath his hand.

Pain hit me before the light finished forming.

My knees buckled.

The pact mark on my wrist split open in a blaze of white heat. Something hooked beneath my skin and yanked hard, dragging a scream out of my throat.

"Seraphina!"

Calian caught me around the waist.

His arm locked across my ribs. My back slammed against his chest, and his breath struck the side of my neck.

The rune burned brighter.

Rusk's voice cut through the courtyard. "Kneel."

My legs folded.

Calian held me upright.

"No," I gasped.

"Kneel," Rusk repeated. "Submit to the command of Frostfall Citadel."

The hook in my blood twisted.

My fingers clawed at Calian's coat. The fabric bunched under my nails.

"Make it stop," I said.

"Rusk! Break the rune."

"She must obey first."

Calian's hand slid from my waist to my stomach, bracing me against him. His body was hard behind mine, heat pouring through two layers of cloth. His mouth brushed close to my ear.

"Look at me," he said.

I turned my head. His eyes had gone almost silver.

"I can't."

"You can."

"Your captain is carving orders into my blood!"

"Then fight him."

"I'm trying!"

"Try harder."

I shoved an elbow back. It caught his ribs.

He grunted but didn't release me.

"Don't tell me to try harder while you're holding me down."

"I'm keeping you standing."

"Feels the same from here."

His grip shifted. One hand caught both my wrists and pinned them against my stomach. The other held my hip. His chest pressed to my back with every breath.

The rune screamed through my veins.

Rusk raised his hand. "Kneel, traitor."

My knees dipped.

Calian's arm tightened. "You don't kneel for him."

"I don't kneel for anyone."

"Then prove it."

I stared at Rusk through the white glare.

"You want me on the ground?" I forced out. "Come make me."

The captain's lips curled. "You don't get to challenge a command rune."

"Then why are you hiding behind one?"

Several guards shifted.

Rusk's face darkened. "You should be grateful my lord brought you here instead of leaving you for the executioner."

"Your lord didn't save me. He bought me."

Calian's fingers dug into my waist.

I felt his mouth near my temple. "Careful."

"What? You don't like the truth?"

"I don't like you giving him the wrong idea."

"Which part was wrong? The hostage part or the bride part?"

His breath warmed my skin. "Both can be true."

The rune flared again.

This time the pain punched through my shoulder and down to my fingertips. My hand convulsed inside Calian's hold.

Rusk smiled. "There. The pact is forcing her to yield."

Calian's gaze snapped to him. "You built the command into the entrance."

"It was placed for security."

"You knew she would trigger it."

"I knew an enemy bloodline would react to it."

"She is not your enemy."

"She was born one."

Calian's expression went cold enough to strip the air from the courtyard.

"You have five seconds to kill the rune."

Rusk lifted his chin. "Or what? You will challenge your own captain in front of the guard?"

"Four."

The pressure inside my blood tightened.

I cried out and bit down on the sound. Calian's hand rose to my throat, not squeezing, just holding my jaw steady as he forced my face toward his.

"Stay with me," he said.

"Stop touching me."

"You keep saying that while leaning into me."

"I'm not leaning. I'm being attacked."

"Your body doesn't seem to know the difference."

Heat climbed my neck.

"Go to hell."

"After you."

For one reckless second, his eyes dropped to my lips again.

The rune jerked my arm forward.

Calian cursed and released one wrist to catch it. His hand closed over my palm just as the command line shot through me.

White fire flashed between our fingers.

Rusk staggered back.

The rune didn't enter me.

It turned.

The burning line raced from my palm through the pact mark and slammed into Calian's hand.

He roared.

Not shouted. Roared.

The sound hit the stone walls and came back twice as loud. His grip crushed my fingers. His other hand shoved me behind him while he faced the captain.

Blood leaked beneath Calian's black glove.

Rusk stared. "That isn't possible."

"You said the pact was weak," I said, fighting to breathe. "You looked pretty sure of yourself a second ago."

Calian ripped off his glove.

A black-red symbol crawled across his palm, moving under the skin. The same shape burned beneath my sleeve, but mine was white at the center.

Rusk took one step back.

Calian took one forward.

"What did you put in the gate?" Calian asked.

"A command seal. Nothing more."

"Try again."

"It responds to hostile blood."

"It responded to her pact."

"Because she is bound to you."

Calian's gaze cut toward me.

The words sat between us, hot and sharp.

Bound to you.

My pulse stumbled.

He saw it. Of course he saw it.

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

"Like what?"

"Like I just proved your point."

"You did."

"I proved your fortress is trying to torture me."

"You proved the pact links your blood to mine."

"I knew that already."

"Did you?"

He stepped closer. The guards watched, but none dared move. His bare hand came up, palm still marked with crawling black lines.

"You thought this was a bargain you could walk away from," he said.

"I thought it was a bargain you could break if you wanted."

His face went still.

That was answer enough.

"You can't break it," I whispered.

Rusk said, "My lord—"

Calian didn't look away from me. "Not another word."

The captain shut his mouth.

I pushed at Calian's chest. He let me move, but only until my back met the iron gate.

His body boxed me in without touching anywhere that would give the guards a reason to look away. His bare palm landed beside my head, the damaged rune glowing between us.

"You knew," I said.

"I suspected."

"You dragged me here knowing I might be trapped."

"I dragged you here because the people who framed you wanted you dead."

"And you want what?"

His eyes dropped to my throat.

"Control."

"At least you're honest."

"Don't mistake honesty for mercy."

"I wouldn't dream of it."

His fingers lifted toward my neck.

The pact mark there pulsed beneath my skin. I felt the heat of his hand before he touched me.

"If you mark me again without permission," I said, "I will bite you."

His thumb stopped a breath from my pulse.

"You already did."

"Then you know I mean it."

"I know you do."

His thumb brushed the edge of the mark.

My breath caught.

The rune in his palm flickered.

Then it went dark.

Calian pulled his hand back like the burn had reached his bones.

"What happened?" I asked.

"Nothing."

"Liar."

"Walk inside."

"Not until you tell me what that symbol is."

"You don't have the authority to demand answers."

"You just admitted the pact ties us together. That gives me at least one damn question."

His mouth tightened. "You have more than one."

"Start with why your captain can command my blood."

"He can't anymore."

Rusk stepped forward. "That is not what the seal shows."

Calian spun toward him. "You are finished speaking."

The captain raised both hands. "My lord, the rune is still active. It only shut down because you interrupted the link. If she crosses the threshold, it will reconnect."

I looked at the black line in the stone.

"You knew that too?" I asked Calian.

"I knew the gate carried an old command seal. I didn't know it had been altered."

"By him?"

Rusk's silence answered.

Calian's gaze dropped to the captain's glove.

"Take it off," he ordered.

Rusk didn't move.

"Now."

The captain slowly peeled away the leather.

The hidden rune beneath it was small, no bigger than a coin. It sat in the center of his palm, pressed deep into the flesh. Unlike the gate seal, it was not red.

It was white.

The same white as mine.

My mouth went dry.

"That's not a command rune," I said.

Rusk closed his hand.

Calian grabbed his wrist and slammed it against the gate. Metal rang behind the captain's skull.

"Open your hand."

"You will regret this."

"I already regret letting you touch her."

Rusk's face twisted. "She isn't what you think. Ask her what happened to Marcus Thorne. Ask her why her stepmother signed the treason order. Ask her who gave her the bloodstone before the trial."

My stomach dropped.

Calian's grip tightened. "You know too much."

"I know she was never meant to be your bride."

"Shut up," I said.

Rusk looked at me. "You want answers? Ask your new husband why the command rune recognizes your blood. Ask him why his mark is waking under my hand."

The symbol in Rusk's palm pulsed.

Once.

Twice.

A thin white line crawled across his wrist.

Calian released him and drew his sword.

The guards raised their weapons.

"Nobody moves," Calian said.

Rusk's hidden rune burned brighter beneath his open glove.

My pact mark answered.

The pain was smaller this time, but it reached straight through my chest and pulled me toward him.

Rusk's hand shook.

"My lord," he said, "you should have left her outside the gate."

"Why?"

The captain's eyes fixed on me.

"Because the citadel knows her."

The rune flared.

Calian stepped in front of me, but I caught his sleeve.

"Move," I said.

His head turned. "No."

"I need to see it."

"You don't know what it will do."

"Neither do you."

"Seraphina."

"If that thing is tied to my blood, I need to know how."

The captain's rune pulsed again. This time, the gate answered with a deep metallic crack.

Calian's fangs slipped past his upper lip.

His voice dropped into something rough and dangerous. "Do not come any closer."

I looked past him at Rusk's glowing palm.

The hidden rune reignited beneath the captain's glove, and I reached for it—