Chapter 10 · And mine?

"And mine?"

"Your touch will steal it."

"So you want me to take another piece of you?"

"I want us inside before Thorne's people turn this door into splinters."

"What's inside?"

"A way through the sealed districts."

"That's not an answer."

"It's the only one you're getting."

I pressed the relic to his chest.

He seized my wrist before the metal touched his skin. His hand closed around me, and the black fire under his skin jumped toward my fingers.

His breath caught.

Mine did too.

The space between us vanished. His shoulder nearly pinned mine to the gate. Heat rolled off him in hard waves, but his grip stayed careful, like he knew one wrong move could break me.

"If you take the fire again," he said, low enough that the guards outside couldn't hear, "the pact will charge you."

"I know."

"It took a year last time."

"I know."

"You might not have many left to spend."

"Then stop making me spend them."

His gaze dropped to the silver relic. "You think I can control that?"

"I think you know more than you're saying."

"I know enough to understand that you should let me die.