Chapter 36 · The Crown's Executioner

"Put the knife down, Helen."

Rafe caught my wrist before the blade touched his exile mark.

His fingers locked around me—hot, hard, shaking just enough to give him away. The old seal beneath my ribs answered with one brutal beat.

Rafe's grip tightened.

His face went gray.

Across the blackstone chamber, Marek laughed.

"There it is," he called. "The bride's heartbeat. The warlord's leash. You really thought cutting the mark would free him?"

"Shut your mouth."

Rafe shoved me behind him, even though his knees nearly buckled. A thin black line pulsed beneath the scar carved over his collarbone. It ran down his chest like ink trapped under skin.

"Helen," he said. "Move."

"You're bleeding through the mark."

"I noticed."

"The thread is inside it."

"Then pull it out."

My fingers tightened around the knife.

Marek's voice crawled through the stone walls.

"The old marriage seal gave me control of your heartbeat, Helen. Every time your pulse jumps, the same command strikes Rafe's body. Every time you panic, his heart follows."

My stomach twisted.

If I cut the wrong place, I could stop him myself.

"You heard him," Marek said. "Go on. Save your precious exile. Cut deep.