Chapter 29 · Rehearsal's a Lie

"Move, Mara." Rhys's hand closed around my wrist before I could touch the black key.

The mark under my skin flashed hot. His matching mark answered from across the small room, a sharp blue pulse that ran up both our arms.

I drove my elbow back.

He caught it.

"You keep grabbing me," I snapped.

"You keep trying to die."

"That's rich coming from the man who gets paid to kill me."

His grip tightened. Not enough to hurt. More than enough to remind me he could.

The black key sat on the table between us, locked inside a ring of red spell lines. Three of them were already burning through the floorboards. The fourth crawled toward my boots.

Rhys shoved me behind him and kicked the table sideways.

The ring broke.

The key screamed.

Every light in the safehouse flickered once.

I stared at his back. Broad shoulders. Dark coat. One hand already on the knife at his belt.

"That was my brother's relay," I said.

"No."

"Don't lie to me."

"I said no. I didn't say I knew what it was."

He turned, and his face was close enough that I felt the heat coming off him.