Chapter 51 · Shattered Resonance

"Take your hands off the wheel, Sylvia, or I will take them off for you."

The carriage lurched hard enough to throw her shoulder into the iron frame. Sylvia caught the wheel with both hands before it could spin free, her knuckles scraping against the cracked leather wrap.

"Try it," she snapped. "You have two seconds before we hit the ravine."

"You are not driving this body."

"Funny. It has my hands on it."

"It has my blood in it."

"And my bones." She yanked the wheel left. The black carriage screamed around a sharp bend, one rear wheel lifting off the road. Somewhere behind them, hounds barked through the trees. "So unless you want us both crushed under a wagon, shut up and let me steer."

Cassian's voice came from inside her skull, low and cold. It did not use her ears. It moved along her nerves, pressing against every thought until her teeth hurt.

"You keep confusing survival with control."

"You keep confusing being dead with being useful."

A pulse slammed through her chest.

Not one pulse.

Two.

Her hands jerked on the wheel. The carriage swerved toward a stone marker.