Chapter 27 · Vows in the Ashes

"Let go of me," I said.

Lucan didn't. His hand was locked around my wrist, right over the blood-contract, and it was burning cold.

"It's still pulling," he said. "Don't move."

"Yeah, no shit it's pulling. You're choking it. Let go before you rip my hand off."

We were kneeling in ash. Like, actual ash. Half an inch of grey shit coating everything after Sera's last bargain blew up in our faces. The ward circle we'd drawn was cracked down the middle. Noah's warning ward was still screaming somewhere behind us, that low, sick hum.

And sunrise was coming. You could see it through the broken roof.

Lucan finally let go. Just an inch. Enough that I could breathe.

The mark on my wrist was different though. It wasn't red anymore. It was pale. Like a scar trying to decide if it wanted to stay.

"What did you do?" I asked him.

"I stopped feeding it," he said. "You were feeding it panic. I cut the flow."

"Great. So now we're both bleeding out slowly instead of fast? Super helpful."

He actually laughed. Short, rough. "You're welcome."

I sat back on my heels and wiped ash off my face.