Chapter 19 · Echoes in the Void

"Get your hand off my throat, Kane." His fingers tightened instead.

My back hit the black stone hard enough to knock a breath out of me. Kane stood between me and the tunnel, one hand braced beside my head, the other locked around my neck. His coat was torn. Blood ran from his temple to his jaw, but his grip was steady.

Too steady.

"You walked into the Void," he said. "Why?"

"I like bad decisions."

"Try again."

"I was chasing you."

His eyes narrowed. "That makes one of us stupid."

"You came here first."

"I came here armed. You came here alone."

"I had a weapon."

"Your knife is stuck in the floor three rooms back."

Damn it.

His thumb shifted against my pulse. Not hard enough to crush it. Just enough to remind me that he could.

Behind him, the tunnel gave a low, wet groan. The sound rolled through the walls like something huge had dragged its claws across the other side.

Kane did not look back.

That scared me more than the hand on my throat.

"Let go," I said.

"Tell me what you heard."

"Nothing."

"Liar.