Chapter 19 · Lock It With Blood

"Get away from me!" My back slammed into the vault wall before I could even get my feet under me.

Cold stone bit through my shirt. My mouth still tasted like him — metal and ozone — and it made me want to gag.

"You're feeding on me," I spat. "You just said you're eating my soul. And you want me to stay close? Are you insane?"

Carson didn't move. One knee on the ground. Chest heaving. Shirt ripped open, knuckles busted and bleeding.

That vein in his neck was glowing again. Sick violet. Pulsing.

"It's not a choice anymore, Evelyn," he rasped. His voice was shredded. "That Ember smoke didn't vanish. It fused."

"So what?"

"So if I get too far from you, the backlash rips the seal wide open," he said. "I won't just feed. I'll detonate. This whole vault becomes our coffin. You, me, her — gone."

"Then let it," I snapped. My voice cracked anyway. I looked at Lily. Out cold on the stone, breathing too shallow. "I'll find another way to cut this. I always find a way."

"Not this time."

He pushed to his feet. Slow.