Chapter 16 · You Sold Me Again

"You sold me again, didn't you, Toby?" My blade was already at his throat and his back hit the crates so hard the bottles behind him rattled.

"Mara— wait— just listen, okay? Just two seconds!" His hands shot up, palms out, sweat all over his forehead even though the cellar was freezing.

"Two seconds is all it took to sell my location to the Crown?" I pressed harder. The edge bit. A thin line of blood welled up. "How much this time? Huh? Enough to get out of the undercity?"

"It wasn't like that!" He swallowed and the blade jumped with his throat. "They had me, Mara. They had my sister. You know what Evelyn does—"

"Don't say her name." My hand was shaking. God, I hated that it was shaking. "You looked me in the eye yesterday and said you had a safe route. You swore."

"I did have a safe route! I do!" He was breathing too fast, eyes darting to the cellar door, to me, to the knife. "It was safe until they grabbed Leni. What was I supposed to do, let them—"

"You were supposed to tell me." My voice cracked and I hated that too.