Chapter 12 · The Rules of Two

"Let go of my hand, Cassian." Sylvia's fingers jerked toward the black mark crawling up her wrist. "Now." The blade in the assassin's grip came down before she could pull away.

Cassian seized control.

Her arm snapped sideways. Steel struck the stone floor hard enough to spit sparks. Sylvia stumbled into Cassian's grip—or what passed for it now, one body and two wills fighting over the same bones.

"You were too slow," he said through her mouth.

"You were too fast." She twisted her shoulder, trying to wrench free. "You don't get to hijack me whenever you feel like it."

The assassin kicked the fallen blade away and drew a second one from his sleeve. His face was hidden behind a gray half-mask, but his eyes stayed fixed on Sylvia's marked wrist.

"The rumors were true," he said. "The surgeon carries the King."

"Everybody keeps calling him that," Sylvia snapped. "Nobody's offered me a definition."

The assassin lunged.

Cassian moved her body before she could blink. He dragged her backward, turned, and drove her shoulder into the assassin's chest. The impact knocked a grunt out of him.