"You’re shaking, Nora. Is it the magic, or are you just terrified of me?"
Kane’s voice was a low drawl, hot against my ear. He had me pinned against the damp brick of the alley, his body a wall of heat that blocked out the world. His thumb grazed my jawline—just a ghost of a touch—but it sent a surge of stillness through my veins. It felt like a drug.
I tried to shove him, but my arms were lead. The unstable energy in my chest, usually a screaming storm of white noise, had gone dead silent.
"Get off me," I spat. It sounded more like a plea.
"I’m not here to play house, Rook. I’m here to put you in a cage and get my brother back."
Kane chuckled. The vibration rattled through my own ribs. He didn't budge. He leaned closer, his scent—sandalwood and old coins—filling my head.
"A cage? You can barely stand. If I let go, your own power is gonna rip you open from the inside out. We both know it."
"I can handle it," I snapped. My breath hitched.
"Liars get punished in this city, sweetheart. You know the rules."
He shifted, pressing his hip firmly against mine. The power dynamic flipped in a heartbeat. He wasn't the fugitive anymore; he was the anchor, and I was the ship drifting into a storm.
"Tell me why a bottom-tier bounty hunter like you has a core that reacts to me," he murmured. "Who gave you that spark?"
"Nobody gave me anything!"
I wedged my forearm between us and shoved. Hard. I managed a few inches of air, but the moment the contact broke, the storm returned. A spike of jagged energy shot through my shoulder. I gasped, stumbling back.
"Damn it."
Kane didn't catch me. He just watched, arms crossed, a smug tilt to his lips.
"See? You're a mess. Now, let's talk business. You want the bounty, Silas wants me in chains, and I just want to get across the border without a royal executioner carving my heart out. We can both get what we want—if you stop pretending you're in control."
"I have a contract," I said, leaning against the wall to keep from collapsing. "I deliver you, I get Milo's soul back. That's the deal. I don't care about your royal drama."
"Drama?" Kane’s expression darkened. He stepped back toward me, the flirtatious heat gone, replaced by a cold, predatory focus. "They didn't just want me gone, Nora. They scrubbed my name. Burned the portraits. Turned me into a ghost while I was still breathing. You think I'm just some spoiled prince who stole the silver?"
"I think you're a fugitive," I countered. "The 'why' doesn't pay the bills."
"It does when the 'why' is the only thing that can keep you alive."
He reached into his coat and pulled out a blackened iron cuff. Runes etched into the metal glowed with a sickly violet light.
"A Binding Oath," I whispered, recoiling. "I'm not wearing that."
"You will if you want to survive the next hour," Kane said. "The Royal Guard is three blocks away. Their scent-hounds can smell your unstable magic from a mile off. You're a beacon, Nora. A screaming flare in the dark. But if we bind—if we share the load—your magic stabilizes. My presence masks you."
"And what do you get?" I narrowed my eyes. "You don't do favors for free."
"I get a bodyguard who doesn't explode," he replied. "And your word that you won't hand me over until I tell you where the ledger is. The real one. The one that proves who actually stole the crown."
I hesitated. The ledger could break Silas's grip on the city. But a blood-lock was a leash. Permanent until one party died.
"I don't trust you," I whispered.
"Good. Trust is for people who aren't desperate."
Kane stepped into my space again, his voice dropping to a dangerous murmur. "But look at your hands, Nora. You're starting to flicker."
I looked down. My fingertips were blurring into translucent static. The instability was peaking. If I didn't ground the energy now, I was going to level this entire alley.
"Fine," I hissed. "Do it."
Kane didn't waste time. He grabbed my wrist—grip firm, possessive—and snapped the cuff shut.
It didn't click. It seared.
A bolt of white-hot agony shot up my arm. I screamed, my head snapping back against the bricks. But as the pain peaked, a golden thread of light erupted from the cuff, winding around both our wrists like a glowing wire.
The static vanished. The screaming in my head stopped. For the first time in years, it was quiet.
Kane let out a sharp breath, his face twisting in a grimace. He looked at the bond, then at me, his eyes scanning my face with an intensity that made my skin prickle.
"There," he whispered, voice strained. "Now we're linked. One soul, one pulse, one set of rules."
I leaned in, heart hammering. "What rules?"
Kane smiled. No warmth in it. He leaned in until his lips almost touched my ear, his breath hot against my skin.
"The Binding Oath is simple, Nora. We can't leave each other's side for more than a few yards, and we can't harm one another. But the best part? The honesty clause."
"Honesty clause?"
"The oath knows when we lie," Kane explained, his gaze dropping to my lips for a fraction of a second. "A deliberate lie—a real deception—and the bond reacts. It doesn't just sting. It stops the other person's heart. Just for a second. Long enough to remind you that the truth is the only thing keeping us alive."
I stared at him, the cuff suddenly feeling like a mountain on my wrist. "You're kidding."
"I don't kid about death, Nora."
He stepped back, the golden thread pulsing in time with my heartbeat. At the mouth of the alley, the distant sound of armored boots echoed against the stone.
"Now, let's see if you're as honest as you are angry," Kane whispered. "Tell me... do you actually want to save your brother, or are you just afraid of being alone?"
I opened my mouth to snap back, but the cuff tightened. A warning squeeze. My heart skipped a beat—a cold, sudden void opening in my chest.
"Careful," Kane whispered, a dark glint in his eyes. "The bond already knows you're lying."