Chapter 33 · Tell me how to stop it

His voice came out rough. His shoulders locked. Black veins climbed his throat.

The curse was moving.

Not into me.

Through me.

I grabbed his collar and hauled him upright. "Tell me how to stop it."

"Destroy the seal."

"You said that already."

"Then stop asking questions and—"

The dead king spoke.

The sound came from inside the walls, under the floor, inside my teeth.

"Blood of the crown. Witness of the dead."

Evelyn went pale. "It knows him."

The guard's face changed. He looked at Lucan, then at the royal seal in my hand.

"You're the heir," he whispered.

Lucan's knife flashed.

The guard shoved Evelyn in front of him. The blade at her throat jerked hard enough to cut her.

"Say it," the guard demanded. "Say who you are."

Lucan stood between me and the corpse, one hand clamped over his burning mark. "I am the last person in this city who can keep that thing asleep."

"That isn't what I asked."

"You don't get to ask anything."

The guard pressed his mouth near Evelyn's ear. "Tell her, or I open her throat."

Evelyn's eyes found mine.