Chapter 39 · Dangerous Allies

"Put the knife down, Ivy." Silas caught my wrist before the blade reached his throat.

His fingers closed around me hard enough to stop the strike, not hard enough to break anything. That was the problem with Silas. He always knew exactly how much force to use.

I twisted, drove my elbow toward his ribs, and missed by an inch. He turned with me, trapping my arm against his chest. The knife clattered across the stone floor.

"You locked me in a vault with a blood key under my skin," I snapped. "What did you think I was going to do? Thank you?"

"I thought you would wait until you had all the facts."

"You put a blade to my throat three minutes ago. Your idea of waiting is a little messed up."

His breath brushed my temple. Warm. Steady. Infuriatingly calm while my pulse tried to punch through my ribs.

"You reached for the scroll," he said. "The vault reacted."

"It burned me."

"It burned through the poison."

That stopped me.

Silas released my wrist, but he didn't step back. His black shirt was torn beneath the shoulder, and a dark line of blood ran down his side.