Chapter 12 · The Death Due Tomorrow

"Tell me why my mother's name is in your family's death ledger." I shoved Riven against the iron archive door before his knees could give out.

His back hit the metal with a dull crack. The sound bounced through the sealed room. His hand caught my wrist, hot enough to sting, but he didn't push me away.

"Because you already know the answer," he said.

"I know you lied. That's not the same thing."

His fingers tightened around me. Six steps. That was all the pact allowed. Six steps before the black fire under his skin started tearing him apart. Six steps before my body paid for keeping him alive.

I glanced at the burn marks crawling up his throat. "You have ten seconds to explain, Ash. After that, I stop caring whether the fire eats you."

His mouth pulled into something that wasn't quite a smile. "You won't."

"Try me."

"If you let me die, the pact takes you with me."

"Then die somewhere far enough away that I don't have to watch."

"It won't let me get far."

"I know. I signed the part where I get chained to you.