Chapter 10 · The Price of a Childhood

"Get your hand off me before I break it," Dax spat.

His voice was a low vibration I felt in my own chest. He had me pinned against the rusted grating of the lower market, his forearm pressing into my collarbone just enough to make me gasp.

"Nessa is in danger, you idiot!" I shrieked, clawing at his sleeve. "The watch—the voice—it named her!"

He didn't budge. His eyes were obsidian shards, cold and searching. "And you expect me to believe a haunted piece of jewelry over the fact that you’ve been lying to me since the second we met?"

"I'm not lying about this!" I bucked against him, my hip slamming into the metal. "She's the only one I trust. If something happens to her, I'm done. Do you get that? Done!"

Dax leaned in. His breath was warm against my ear, a dangerous contrast to the freezing damp of the Veyra underground. "Trust is a luxury you can't afford, Mara. Especially when you're being hunted by a ghost with your own face."

He released me so abruptly I nearly hit the floor. No hand offered. No help.