Chapter 23 · The Forbidden Mark

"Get your hands off me, Kaelen! I can't—I can't breathe!"

Sloane gasped, her back slammed against the cold stone of the altar. Kaelen didn't budge. He had her pinned, his fingers digging into her shoulders with a strength that bordered on bruising. His chest was heaving, the scent of ozone and burnt copper clinging to him like a second skin.

"The bond is fraying," Kaelen snarled, his voice sounding like grinding stones. "I can feel it. You're slipping away, and I won't let you. Do you understand? I won't let you go."

Sloane tried to push him back, but her arms felt like lead. The magical backlash from the altar was still humming through her veins, a jagged, electric current that made her muscles twitch. "I know it's fraying, you idiot! That's why I'm trying to stabilize it! Now move!"

He didn't move. Instead, he leaned closer, his forehead nearly touching hers. His eyes weren't the soft amber she'd grown used to; they were flickering, a violent, molten gold that seemed to swallow the dim light of the ruins.

"Stabilize it how?" he whispered, his breath hot against her lips. "With more lies? More little tricks?