Chapter 32 · Take the pain

He pulled her closer by the wrist, forcing her hand flat against his chest. His skin burned beneath her palm.

"Take the pain," he said. "All of it."

"You don't get to order me into your head."

"Then call it a request."

"That sounded painful for you."

"Don't make me regret it."

The hound tore a wider hole in the door. A gray muzzle pushed through, teeth flashing.

Sylvia shut her eyes for one second.

Then she drove the needle into the second point.

Cassian's pain hit her like a wave.

She saw a black throne under a red sky. Saw men kneeling with their heads lowered. Saw a blade entering his back. Saw someone he trusted standing behind him with both hands wrapped around the hilt.

Not a battlefield.

A betrayal.

Cassian made a strangled sound.

"Get out," he said.

Sylvia pulled the thread through. "Not until I'm done."

"You saw nothing."

"I saw enough."

"You saw a memory."

"I saw you on your knees."

His hand snapped around her throat.

He didn't squeeze, but his thumb pressed against her pulse.