Chapter 32 · The Seal Beneath the Throne

"Don't touch her." Lucan caught my wrist before my fingers reached the dead king's chest.

His grip was hard enough to hurt. His thumb pressed against the pulse in my wrist, right over the black lines burning beneath my skin.

Across the crypt, Evelyn was on her knees with a council blade at her throat.

The guard holding her glanced at Lucan. "One more step, Investigator, and she loses her head."

Evelyn's laugh came out rough. "Nora, if you let him stop you, I swear I'll haunt you first."

"You already do that while alive," I called back.

"Then hurry up."

Lucan pulled me closer, his mouth near my ear. His breath touched my skin, warm and sharp with iron. "The body carries the Black Seal. Touch it, and the curse moves into you."

"Good. Then it can move from me into you."

His fingers tightened. "Don't be stupid."

"You dragged me under a dead throne, put my friend under a knife, and now you're worried about my judgment?"

"I'm worried you'll die before you can hate me properly."

That stopped me for half a second.

Only half.

I twisted against him and drove my elbow into his ribs.