Chapter 19 · The Executioner Returns

"Get your hands off him!"

My shout hit the throne room as the last blood line snapped into place.

Red light crawled across the blackstone floor. It wrapped around Rafe's boots, climbed his legs, and locked around his chest. The chain wasn't metal. It was blood—thick, shining, pulsing with every beat of his heart.

Rafe dropped to one knee.

Marek stood across the array, both palms pressed to the stone. Blood ran from his cut hands into the carved channels.

"Too late, Helen," he said. "The throne's chosen its sacrifice."

"It chose nothing." I stepped over the first burning line. Pain tore through my boots and shot up my bones. "You forced it open. There's a difference."

Marek laughed. "You still think you can command this place? You don't even know what you are."

Rafe's fingers dug into the floor. His jaw locked, but he didn't make a sound.

That scared me more than his pain would have.

"Rafe." I moved toward him. "Look at me."

His eyes found mine. Black veins crawled from his throat toward his jaw.

"Don't come closer," he said.

"You don't get to order me around while that thing's eating you."

"Helen, stop."

"No.