Chapter 27 · You want control?

She shoved my chest.

The movement knocked her off balance. I caught her by the wrist, but she used my grip against me, twisting until my shoulder hit the pillar. Her body pressed close, one hand braced beneath my jaw.

Her palm was warm.

Her eyes were furious.

"You want control?" she whispered. "Try taking it now."

"You have no idea what you're asking."

"I know exactly what I'm asking. Tell me why your blood makes the curse quiet. Tell me why the stone warms when I touch it. Tell me why Silas called me a throne."

The word landed between us.

Throne.

I had heard it in the ruins before. Not from Silas. From the dead man in my father's gear, whose mouth had moved after his heart stopped.

The deep has a queen.

I had blamed the pressure. The dark. Anything but the possibility that the voice had been real.

Lyra watched my face change.

"You heard it too," she said.

"Heard what?"

"Don't lie to me again."

"You first."

Her fingers pressed harder beneath my jaw. "I heard my name in the dead diver's voice. He said I was stolen.