Chapter 5

He let go, but not fast enough to hide the pain on his face. The black oathstone pulsed between us. My name still crawled across its surface in thin silver letters.

LIA VALE.

Under it, two words appeared.

MUST BE SACRIFICED.

My mouth went dry. "You knew."

"I knew the stone would name a sacrifice. I didn't know it would be you."

"That is not the same thing." I stepped closer, forcing him back against the transport wall. "You dragged me onto this vehicle, took my evidence, tied your life to mine, and now you're telling me the magic rock might kill me?"

"The evidence is still yours."

"How generous."

His jaw tightened. "Lia—"

"No. You don't get to use my name like that fixes anything." I jabbed a finger at the stone. "What comes next?"

The silver letters burned brighter.

THIRTY DAYS.

Calian's face went still.

There it was. Not fear. Not surprise. Recognition.

I laughed once, sharp and ugly. "You know the last line."

"I know enough to stop it."

"Then stop it."

He turned toward the stone.

I caught the front of his coat. "No. You don't get to run ahead and make another choice for me. Not after you gave up half your oath power without telling me. Not after you stood in front of the council and called me disposable."

His eyes dropped to my hand gripping his coat. My knuckles were white. His chest moved under my fist, slow and controlled, while mine refused to settle.

"You wanted the truth," he said.

"I want all of it."

"You can't handle all of it in this carriage."

"Try me."

For one second, his gaze stayed on my mouth.

Then he looked away. "I abandoned you in public because I needed the council to underestimate your value."

I went quiet.

Calian pulled free of my grip and faced me fully. His shoulder brushed mine in the narrow space. He smelled like metal, smoke, and the clean soap from the safehouse. Too close. Close enough for me to feel the heat coming off him.

"They were watching you," he said. "Every word I spoke changed your survival odds. If I defended you, they would have moved you to a sealed holding site. You would have disappeared before I could reach you."

"So you humiliated me instead."

"Yes."

The answer landed harder than an excuse would have.

"You stood there while Sevryn called me a liar."

"Yes."

"You let them believe you didn't care whether I lived."

His mouth tightened. "I let them believe you meant nothing to me."

My throat burned. "And did you?"

He didn't answer.

I shoved him again, though there was nowhere for him to go. "Answer me."

His hand came up, stopping inches from my waist. He didn't touch me. He waited there, fingers curled, like even contact had become a question between us.

"If I say no," he said, voice low, "you'll believe me."

"If you say yes, I might believe you too."

His eyes came back to mine. "I didn't abandon you because you meant nothing. I abandoned you because you meant too much, and the council knew it."

The carriage hit a broken stretch of road. My shoulder knocked into his chest. His arm snapped around my waist before I could fall.

For one breath, I was pressed against him.

His palm covered the small of my back. My hand flattened against his ribs. Beneath my fingers, his heart was beating too fast for a man pretending to be calm.

"Let go," I whispered.

"Say you have your balance."

"You're enjoying this?"

"No."

"Liar."

His grip tightened for half a second. "Say it."

I hated that I could feel the restraint in him. Hated that my body noticed the warmth of his hand before my anger returned.

"I have my balance."

He released me at once.

The stone cracked.

A thin line split across its center. Light leaked through it and crawled over the floor toward our boots.

Calian stepped in front of me. "Stay back."

"You don't command me."

"This time, I do."

"Then you're going to have to explain why."

He reached inside his coat and pulled out the evidence chip. My chip. The one I had forced him to return before the transport left the council gates.

He held it between two fingers. "This is why they haven't killed you yet."

I snatched for it.

He lifted his hand over my head. "Don't."

"Give it to me."

"The council encrypted the original file. Your copy only shows the disaster patterns. This holds the names attached to the orders."

My breath caught. "You saw them?"

"No."

"You're lying."

"I saw the seal. Not the names."

"Then open it."

"I can't."

"You just said it was yours to protect."

"I said it was yours. There is a difference."

He lowered the chip between us. The space shrank again. His knuckles brushed my fingers, and the burn on my wrist flared in answer.

"The oath won't let me access evidence tied to a protected subject," he said. "It will punish me for trying."

"Good. Maybe pain will make you honest."

"It already has."

His voice dropped on the last word.

The stone flashed.

MUST BE SACRIFICED. THIRTY DAYS.

The light wrapped around our wrists. My skin split along the old burn, not deep enough to bleed, but enough to sting.

Calian reached toward me.

I jerked away. "Don't."

His hand stopped in the air.

The restraint in his face cracked. "If the bond completes without consent, it will choose the payment itself."

"Payment?"

"One life for the other."

"Whose life?"

"The one who resists."

I stared at him. "So if I back out, you die?"

"If I back out, you die."

The carriage brakes screamed. I stumbled into the bench. The chip flew from Calian's hand and skidded under the locked evidence box.

He dropped to one knee and reached for it.

I grabbed his collar and yanked him back. "You're not leaving this conversation."

"The chip—"

"Can wait. My life can't."

He stared up at me from the floor, one knee between my boots. His breath brushed the bare skin above my collar. The position should have made me feel powerful.

It didn't.

He could still order the guards outside to take me. He could still hand me to the council. He had the oath, the authority, and every legal excuse in the city.

I had one choice left.

I pulled the small utility blade from my boot.

Calian's eyes dropped to it. "Lia."

"Don't move."

"Put it down."

"You don't get to tell me what to do with my blood."

I dragged the blade across my palm.

Pain snapped through me. Blood welled bright and quick.

Calian didn't grab me.

He stayed perfectly still, fists locked at his sides, jaw clenched so hard I saw the muscle jump.

"You could stop me," I said.

"I could."

"But you won't."

"Not unless you choose this."

"Choose what? Your leash? Your death sentence?"

"Choose me as your protector. Freely. Awake. No order. No threat."

I laughed, but it shook. "You are the threat."

"I know."

"And if I say no?"

"Then I take the payment alone."

"You said the bond chooses the one who resists."

"It does."

"So you made this about me saving you?"

"No." His eyes held mine. "I'm asking you to let me stand beside you before the stone decides we belong to it."

That was the worst part. He wasn't forcing my hand. He was waiting for it.

I pressed my bleeding palm against the stone.

Light burned up my arm.

Calian rose slowly, giving me time to pull away. I didn't.

"Say it," he said. "Say you choose the bond."

"I choose the bond," I said. "But I don't choose obedience. I don't choose sacrifice. And I sure as hell don't choose trusting you."

His hand came up, palm open.

I placed my bloody hand in his.

His skin was hot. The instant our palms met, the wound sealed between us. Pain shot through both wrists, then raced up our arms until our shoulders jerked together.

The stone swallowed our blood.

For half a heartbeat, nothing happened.

Then numbers carved themselves into my skin.

30:00:00

The same countdown burned across Calian's wrist.

"Calian," I whispered.

The timer began to fall.

29:59:59

The stone split wide open.

A voice came from inside it, flat and cold.

"First command. Guardian Calian Vey must kill Lia Vale before the count reaches—"

Calian's fingers locked around mine. His other hand went to the blade at his belt, and the weapon began to clear its sheath as I said, "You'd better not—"