Chapter 29 · Blood Turns the Lock

Carson hit the floor and I felt the knife go through him like it was in my own chest.

Not metaphor. Not some romantic bullshit about feeling his pain. The pact slammed into me so hard my knees buckled. Silver burn. Bone crack. Blood filling up a lung that wasn't mine but I couldn't breathe anyway.

I screamed his name. Actual sound, not the true-name kind. Just his name, ripped out of me while I watched him try to push himself up and fail.

The hunter who'd stabbed him stepped back, wiping the blade on his jacket like Carson was already done. Sera stood behind him, her face calm, her hands clasped in front of her like she was at a board meeting. The gate was roaring now, splitting wider, and the lock in the center of the floor was drinking Carson's blood like it had been waiting for it.

Gideon was shouting something but I couldn't hear him over the noise in my head. The pact was trying to pull me toward Carson, trying to make me stop the bleeding, stop the change, stop him from dying, but I couldn't move.