Chapter 15 · The Gilded Cage

"Take your hand off me, Julian, or I swear I'll break the finger you're using to threaten me."

Julian's cold fingertip stayed under Kael's jaw.

Not pressed hard enough to cut off his breath. Just enough to remind him that Julian could. The noble heir stood between Kael and the iron laboratory door, one hand braced beside Kael's head, his black coat still carrying dust from the lower tunnels. A silver chain ran from his wrist to the ring of a guard outside.

The leash was real.

So was the knife hidden against Kael's ribs.

"You say that every time," Julian said. "You haven't broken anything yet."

"Give me a better target."

Julian's mouth twitched. It wasn't a smile. Not quite. His eyes looked wrong, though. Too bright. Too focused on the hand Kael had used to steady him during the last episode.

The hand Julian now had trapped against the table.

Kael pulled once. Julian tightened his grip.

"Let go."

"You want to leave?"

"I want to stop standing in a room full of locked doors while your church dog decides whether I deserve to breathe. Yes. I want to leave.