Chapter 25 · Hollowborn - Chapter 25: The Purge Is Live

Cole's body took a step toward me. Marcus's voice came out of his mouth.

"Kneel."

I didn't move. Couldn't. My legs locked up like someone had poured cement into my bones. Around us the altar pulsed red, brighter now, hot enough I felt it on my skin. The other hunters were starting to wake up—groaning, rolling over, hands pressed to their heads like they'd all been hit with the same hammer.

Cole took another step. His eyes were wrong. Too focused. Too cold. Nothing like the half-lost look he'd had before, nothing like the flicker of recognition when I'd carved his name into his soul.

"I said kneel, Ivy."

Marcus's tone. Marcus's clipped consonants. Coming out of Cole's throat.

I swallowed hard. "No."

His hand moved to the knife at his belt. My knife. The one I'd pulled from the shadow. He drew it slow, like he had all the time in the world, like he knew I had nowhere to run.

"You don't understand what you just did," Marcus said through Cole's mouth. "You gave me the key. His true name, carved into his soul, bound to yours. I needed that link. The anchor point.