Chapter 21 · The Hollow Cure - Chapter 21: The Devil's Bargain

"Choose, surgeon. The core or the girl." Aldrus's scalpel kissed Lyra's throat and didn't move. "You have three seconds."

"Get that off her," I said. My hands were already up. My ribs screamed every time I breathed. "You want the core, you talk to me. Not her."

"I am talking to you," Aldrus said. He smiled. That thin, priest smile. "Through her. It's more efficient."

The door we'd heard crash open a second ago was still swinging. Dust in the air. Somebody had kicked it hard from the outside, but nobody came through. A feint. Or a warning. Aldrus didn't even look.

Lyra's eyes found mine. Her throat was white under that blade. The crystal veins at her collarbone were pulsing too fast. Black at the edges now. Not red anymore.

"Kael, don't," she whispered. "Don't give him anything."

"Quiet, dear," Aldrus said. His other hand tightened in her hair, tipped her head back more. "Men are deciding things."

"Yeah?" I said. "You call this deciding? You holding a knife to a girl who can barely stand? Real big man move, Aldrus."

"She can stand fine when she needs to betray her father," he said.