Chapter 16 · The Price of the Card

"Stop looking at me like I’m a ticking bomb, Kane. It’s annoying," Evelyn snapped, though she didn't move away from him.

They were crammed into the back of a stolen sedan, the leather seats smelling of old cigarettes and desperation. Kane didn't answer. He couldn't. His chest felt like someone had poured molten lead into his lungs. Every time he breathed, he could feel the soul-bind humming—a jagged, electric vibration that tethered his heartbeat to hers.

He reached up, his fingers trembling slightly as he touched the glowing mark on his wrist. The Forbidden Card hadn't just rewritten his fate; it had turned him into a parasite, and Evelyn was the host.

"You’re shaking," she whispered. Her voice had lost the bite, replaced by something that sounded dangerously like concern. She shifted closer, her shoulder brushing his. The heat coming off her was dizzying.

"I'm fine," Kane lied, his voice a gravelly wreck.

"Liar. You almost burned your soul out of your chest back there. Do you even know what happens if that link snaps?" She reached out, her palm sliding over his wrist, pinning the mark against the seat.