Chapter 18 · Blood Trade

"You want the truth or you want your brother breathing tomorrow? You don't get both." Lucan's hand slammed my palm flat against his chest and held it there.

His heart hammered under my fingers. Too fast. Too hot. Like something was clawing its way out from under his ribs.

"Let go," I snapped.

"No." His fingers tightened. "You asked if I've been lying to you. Yeah. I have. So decide. Do you want the lie that keeps him alive for one more day, or the truth that might kill us both right now?"

"I want you to stop talking in riddles and tell me where Noah is!" I shoved against him. He didn't move. His back was against the rusted cage wall, my back against his front, and the ward-light above us was buzzing like a dying fly.

We were boxed in. The old containment cage under the east vault. One door. Sealed from the outside twenty minutes ago when the hunters tripped the outer wards. Air tasted like copper and old blood.

"They sealed us in," I said. "We're gonna suffocate or they're gonna cut the power and flood this thing. Talk. Now.