Chapter 37 · All In, All Out

"Pick one, Kane. Right now."

Marcus didn't look like a god. He looked like a man who had spent too much time staring into the void and finally let it stare back. He held the Forbidden Card between two fingers, the edges shimmering with a sick, iridescent light that made the air around it vibrate.

Kane was on one knee, his chest heaving, blood dripping from a gash in his forehead and blurring his vision. Beside him, Evelyn was pinned against the crumbling concrete pillar, her wrist locked in Marcus's grip. The pressure was enough to crack bone.

"The rules are simple," Marcus sneered, his voice a dry rasp. "The card can only sustain one soul. You can take your power back, reclaim everything they stole from you, and leave her here to rot. Or you can save her, and you stay a Discard. A ghost. A nothing."

"Let her go," Kane spat, the words tasting like copper.

"Wrong answer," Marcus said. He tightened his grip on Evelyn's wrist. She didn't scream—she wasn't the type—but her breath hitched, a sharp, jagged sound that cut through Kane's focus.