Chapter 33 · Come here

He looked at me over his shoulder.

For half a second, the battle blurred behind him. His hair had fallen across his forehead. There was a thin cut along his cheek. His breathing was rough, his hand still locked around mine.

Then Klaus shouted from the far end of the hall.

"Ivy!"

Silas shoved me behind the throne.

Klaus stood on the raised platform with a crossbow aimed directly at my chest.

"Come here," he ordered. "Or I put a bolt through your king."

Silas stepped into the line of fire.

"You want me?" he called. "Then lower the weapon and say it to my face."

"You aren't the one I own."

Klaus's gaze cut to me. "Ivy, come here. Now. Prove you meant what you said."

My hand closed around the dagger.

Silas didn't look back. "Don't move."

"If I don't, he'll shoot you."

"He won't."

"You don't know that."

"I know him. He needs you alive."

Klaus laughed. "Does he? Ask him what happens when the contract marks a traitor."

The mark under my sleeve burned hotter.

Silas heard my sharp breath. His head turned slightly.

"Ivy, listen to me."

"No. You listen.