Chapter 37 · Stay back

I pulled it free. Blue light spilled over our faces. The weapon hummed in my grip, answering the same signal that beat under my skin.

The controlled soldiers began moving again.

Kael pushed me behind him. "Stay back."

"You said I had a choice."

"I said take the blade. I didn’t say use it on me."

"Shame."

He charged the nearest guard. The soldier swung a metal staff. Kael ducked, drove his shoulder into the man’s chest, and shoved him toward the throne. Black cables sprang from the platform and wrapped around the guard’s arms.

The man screamed.

"Kael!" I shouted. "That’s killing him!"

"It’s pulling the Core’s signal out."

"It’s tearing through his nerves!"

"If I release him, he attacks again."

"Then hold him without turning the throne into a meat grinder!"

Kael looked back at me. "You want control? Take it."

The bond yanked.

Pain shot from my palm to my shoulder. The blade flared. Every soldier in the chamber turned toward me at once.

Their helmets opened. Their eyes glowed the same dark blue as the throne.

"Sera," Kael said, quieter now. "Put the blade down."

"You first.