Chapter 6 · Choke Chain

"Keep moving, Storm, or I'll drag you by the throat."

Ronin's voice cut across the training yard before the chain around my waist finished rattling.

I kept my boots moving.

Barely.

The iron collar bit into the bruised skin under my jaw. A short chain ran from it to the belt at my back, and every step made the links punch my spine. My fingers were numb. My knees shook. The bond under my ribs burned hot enough to make breathing feel like swallowing glass.

Still, I lifted my chin.

"Try it," I called back. "Drag me. Give everyone a better view of your favorite prisoner."

A few trainees laughed.

Not because I was funny. Because they wanted Ronin to look somewhere other than at them.

He stood at the front of the frozen yard in black armor, one gloved hand resting on the hilt of his executioner's blade. His mask covered the top half of his face, but I could still feel his stare locked on me.

That stare had been different last night.

In the ice cave, his hand had been against my throat for a completely different reason. His scent had filled my lungs.