Chapter 30 · Hollowborn - Chapter 30: The Blade in His Hand

The knife pressed cold against my throat.

I couldn't breathe. Couldn't think. Cole's hand was steady—too steady for someone who'd just clawed his way back from ten years of nothing. His eyes were clear. Focused. Not the hollow thing I'd seen stumbling through guild corridors for three years.

"Let her go," he said again.

Above us, the screaming got louder. Two hundred hunters. The entire night shift. I could hear them through the stone—raw, animal sounds that didn't belong in human throats.

"Are you insane?" My voice came out wrong. Choked. "They're dying—"

"They're bait." Cole's grip tightened on my shoulder. Not hard enough to hurt. Just enough to keep me from lunging back toward the crack where Mom's hand was disappearing into light. "The anchors don't want them. Never did."

Marcus laughed. Blood bubbled at the corner of his mouth, but he was still smiling. Still watching like this was exactly what he'd planned. "Tell her the rest, Cole. Tell her what happens when she pulls Layla out."

Cole didn't look at him. Kept his eyes on me. On the threads of light wrapping tighter around my wrists, trying to drag me toward the crack. "The ritual's not broken.