Chapter 25 · A King's Intercept

Chapter 25: A King's Intercept

"You don't get to die without me."

That's the first thing I heard before the glass wall of the cage came apart like it was made of sugar.

My left arm had already gone dead to the shoulder, the paralytic crawling up from where Silas's claw opened my skin. My pulse slowed down thick and wrong, like my heart had clocked out right when I needed it most. The numbness climbed toward my collarbone, and I couldn't feel my own fingers anymore, couldn't tell if my hand was still closed around anything at all. Silas stood over me with his blade raised, lips peeled back off teeth too long for anything that still called itself a man.

"Stay down, Calder," he said, almost gentle. "The King doesn't need a warrior who can't hold a line."

"You're not the King anymore the second that blade lands." My voice slurred, half my face already numb, tongue thick in my mouth. "You're just a murderer with a title."

"Careful. That's treason out loud."

"So's inspecting a cage with a kill switch in your fist."

He laughed. That was his mistake.