Chapter 36 · You need me close

"You need me close."

"I need you alive."

"Then stop backing away from the part of this that scares you."

The point hovered over my collarbone now. I could feel cold metal through my shirt.

Calian's breathing turned ragged. "Get behind the line."

"Say it again."

"What?"

"Tell me to leave you. Tell me to let the oath take you apart and pretend that keeps me safe."

"I won't say that."

"Then look at me."

He did.

The fight in his face was worse than the blade. His eyes had gone dark, not with anger, but with the kind of fear he would rather bleed than name.

I reached for him.

The guard shouted, "Do not touch the guardian during judgment!"

"Shut up," I said.

My fingers caught Calian's coat. I pulled him down until our foreheads met.

His skin was hot. Mine was shaking. The blade pressed closer, but neither of us looked at it.

"Lia," he breathed.

"Nobody gets to choose who dies for me."

His hand slammed against the gate beside my head.