Chapter 34 · The Blood-Key

"Don't you dare close your eyes."

Cain's hand clamped around my jaw before my knees hit the stone.

His palm burned against my skin. Blood ran from his temple, down his cheek, and dripped onto my fingers.

"I'm not closing anything," I snapped.

"You're swaying."

"I'm standing. Learn the difference."

Behind him, the altar split with a sound like a giant bone breaking. Red light poured through the crack. Symbols carved into the stone flashed one after another, each pulse yanking at the blood beneath my skin.

Cain shoved me behind him.

I shoved him back.

He barely moved. Even half-dead, he was built like a wall. His shoulder struck my chest, and his coat scraped across my knuckles as he caught both my wrists.

"Stay behind me," he growled.

"Stop ordering me around."

"Silas brought an army."

"Then you should've thought of that before hiding the truth from me."

Gold flashed in his eyes. Pain killed it just as fast.

He staggered.

I caught his coat before he hit the floor.

That's when the soldiers poured through the broken archway.

Steel clanged against stone. Crossbows lifted. White fire crawled along the tips of their bolts.

Silas walked between them.