Chapter 22 · The Broker's Bluff

"Take your hand off me, Eve." Cole twisted against her grip as the black chain around his wrist tightened. "Unless you're planning to explain why my own contract is trying to cut off my circulation."

"Stop fighting it."

"Great advice from the woman who put the contract there."

Eve shoved him back against the iron wall. The impact rattled the shelves behind him. A stack of sealed cards jumped, slapped against the metal, and settled with their faces turned down.

Cole's wrist burned under the red-black mark. It had started as a thin line beneath his skin. Now it crawled toward his palm, hot enough to make his fingers shake.

Eve caught his hand before he could claw at it. Her glove was cold. Her bare thumb pressed against his pulse.

"You tear at the seal," she said, "and it takes something."

"It already took something."

"What?"

"The feeling in two fingers. Maybe the use of my hand next. You tell me. You're the expert."

Her eyes dropped to the mark. For half a second, the sharp broker mask slipped. Cole saw the fear underneath.

Then she pulled it back on.

"I'm not the one hurting you."

"No?