Chapter 36 · If I Have To

"You first. Show me your face."

I dug my heels into the stone and locked both hands around the key.

The thing behind the black veil laughed.

"You still think this is about faces?"

The key ripped sideways. Pain shot through my wrist.

Dorian reached me and seized my forearm. "Let go. Now."

"No."

"Mara, look at me."

"I'm busy."

"Look at me!"

I did.

He was too close. Blood ran from the cut above his eyebrow and streaked down his temple. His pupils had blown wide.

Not from fear.

The bond.

Red light crawled up both our arms.

Dorian's fingers tightened around my wrist. "The purge is using the mark between us. It can cross through me."

"Then break the link."

His jaw locked. "I can't."

"You rejected me. You seemed pretty good at breaking things then."

His eyes flashed.

Then his hand closed over mine around the key.

Bare skin met my blood.

The bond detonated.

Dorian sucked in a sharp breath and folded for one brutal second. Pain ripped through my arm.