Chapter 16 · Chair

"Five minutes," Voss said, like that fixed anything. "Sage is calling it a tie. He wants a recount before the guests leave, and he wants Rowan's seal on it or he's filing contest papers tonight."

Callum's hand was still around my wrist. Not gripping hard. Just there, thumb pressed flat over the place where the mark sat under my sleeve, hot enough that I could feel it through the fabric.

"Let go," I said.

He didn't. "Rowan—"

"You don't get to say my name like that in front of him." I looked at Voss. "Like we're still finishing a sentence from an hour ago."

Voss's eyes went from my wrist to Callum's face and back, and something in his jaw tightened like he'd just done math he didn't want to do. "You two can sort out whatever this is on your own time. Right now I need an archivist in that room, and I need him not looking like he just got dragged out of somebody's bed."

"Nobody dragged me out of anything," I said. "He grabbed me. There's a difference."

"There's five minutes," Voss said. "Move."

He went first.