Chapter 38 · The Royal Blood Channel

"Don't say it." Nora caught Lucan by the wrist before he could step into the black seal.

His blood struck the stone in three bright drops. The seal drank every one.

Lucan looked at her hand around him. "Let go."

"Not until you stop trying to confess to a crime you didn't commit."

"The council doesn't need the truth. It needs a name." His jaw tightened. "Give them mine."

"Your name won't save me."

"It'll keep the execution order from finishing."

That stopped her.

Above the ruined throne, the death order shuddered in the air. Red lines crawled over the parchment, gathering into a seal Nora knew too well. The mark had already spread from the page to Lucan's palm, thin as cracked glass beneath his skin.

The same lines burned across Nora's ribs.

She pressed two fingers to the mark. Heat snapped through her hand. "It's not yours."

Lucan pulled once. Nora held tighter. "Nora."

"Don't use that voice with me. You use it when you're about to throw yourself in front of a blade and call it strategy."

"You have a better plan?"

"I read the mark."

"You already read it. It named me."

"No.