Chapter 30 · The Last Second

"Don't touch him." I slammed my palm against the blackstone throne before its red blades could close around Rafe's chest.

The throne answered with a crack of light.

Rafe's back struck the stone behind him. Two metal restraints snapped around his wrists and dragged his arms overhead. Blood ran from the corner of his mouth, but his eyes stayed locked on mine.

"Helen," he said, low and sharp. "Get away from it."

"You first."

"I'm not the one being fed into a purge engine."

"No. You're the one it wants."

The chamber shook.

Red fire crawled over the throne's arms and sank into Rafe's skin. His jaw clenched. A dark mark spread from his collarbone to his throat, shaped like a broken crown.

The same mark burned beneath my ribs.

I pressed harder against the throne. Heat punched through my glove and into my palm. The stone didn't care. It pulled at my blood anyway, dragging the King Blood through my veins in hot, vicious threads.

"Look at me," I said.

Rafe's stare snapped back to mine. "I'm looking."

"Good. Keep doing that."

"You have a plan?"

"Half a plan."

"That isn't comforting."

"You married me for my plans.