Chapter 34 · The Core's Bait

"Don't touch it."

Kane's hand locked around my wrist before my fingers reached the split in the core seal.

His grip was weak. His warning wasn't.

The broken mirror behind us had scattered silver shards across the black floor. Every piece showed a different version of me. Human. Rat-thing. Bone-plated monster. A girl with Kane's blood on her hands. A girl with Kane's knife buried under her ribs.

The core pulsed beneath the cracked seal.

Once.

Twice.

Each pulse tugged at the bond under my skin.

"Let go," I said.

Kane stood behind me, breathing hard. One arm pressed against his side. Blood had soaked through his coat and dripped between the cracks in the floor.

"No."

"You don't get to say no anymore."

His fingers tightened. Not enough to hurt. Enough to remind me that he could still stop me if he chose to ignore the promise he'd made.

"You said you wouldn't make the choice for me," I snapped. "That means you don't get to hold me back because you're scared."

His gray eyes dropped to my mouth for half a second.

Then they went cold again.

"I'm not scared of the core."

"Right. You're terrified of it.