Chapter 8 · The Throne Answers

"Don't touch it unless you're ready to burn." Kane caught my wrist before my fingers reached the altar.

He yanked me back against him. Heat rolled off his body, sharp and feverish through the leather between us. His breath brushed my ear.

"Let go." I twisted hard. "You said my blood was the key. If that's the throne, then this is where it starts."

"That's not a throne." His grip tightened. "It's a mouth."

"Then why bring me here?"

"I didn't bring you here so you could feed it."

"You brought me here because you knew I could wake it."

His silence hit harder than an answer.

The black stone waited in the center of the ruins, swallowing the weak light around it. Thin runes glowed beneath the surface. Not bright. Not yet.

Kane pulled me another inch back. There wasn't room for air between us now. His heartbeat thudded against my back, steady and dangerous.

"You're shaking," he murmured.

"I'm standing."

"That wasn't what I said."

"And I don't care what you said."

A low laugh moved through his chest and into mine. "Still picking fights when you're scared."

"I'm not scared of a slab of rock.