Chapter 20 · Who's Mine Now

The roof air hit me like ice water.

Vivian was on her knees ten feet away, pale as paper, one hand pressed to her chest. Wraith stood behind her with his fingers wrapped around something I couldn't see—something that pulsed red between his knuckles.

Her heartbeat. He was holding her heartbeat.

"Evelyn." Lucien's voice came from behind me, rough and low. "Don't move."

I moved.

Three steps forward before Wraith's head snapped up. His smile was all teeth. "There she is. The girl who thinks she has a choice."

"Let her go." My voice didn't shake. Good. I didn't feel steady but I could fake it. "This is between you and Lucien. She's got nothing to do with it."

"Wrong." Wraith's grip tightened and Vivian gasped, her whole body jerking. "She's got everything to do with it. She was the last one stupid enough to sign herself over to him. You're just the next."

Lucien stepped up beside me. Blood still soaked his shirt from whatever Wraith had done in the elevator. He was slower than usual. Hurt.

"Evelyn, go back inside."

"No."

"This isn't—"

"I said no." I didn't look at him. Couldn't.