Chapter 31 · The New Guardian Bleeds

"Take your hands off him!" I shoved through the ring of council guards and dropped beside Calian before his knees hit the stone.

He caught himself on one palm. Blood ran from his nose onto the white floor.

"Lia, back away," Sevryn ordered. "You don't know what you're touching."

"I know exactly what I'm touching." I grabbed Calian's wrist. His skin was burning. "I'm touching the man your stone is trying to kill."

The oathstone screamed.

Not with a sound. With pressure.

It punched through my chest and squeezed my heart until my vision jumped. Calian jerked beneath my hand. A black line crawled up his throat, pulsing with every beat he had left.

"Let go," he rasped.

"No."

"Lia." His eyes locked on mine. Hard. Furious. Scared, though he tried to bury it. "Let go of me now."

"You can barely breathe. I'm not letting go."

"If you keep holding me, it uses you as the channel."

"Then I'll break the channel."

A guard raised his blade.