Chapter 19 · The Promise

"Don't put it in the bell!" Cade slammed me against the stone ring before I could reach the Memory Core.

The back of my skull cracked against the wall. Young Cade's image blurred inside the Memory Eye, but his grip didn't. One hand locked around my wrist. His other arm pinned me across the chest.

The life-link between us flared hot enough to burn.

"Move," I snapped.

"No."

"You don't get to say no after leaving me to remember you alone."

His fingers tightened. Heat spread from his palm into my skin—sharp, familiar, and way too easy for my body to recognize.

I hated that.

"Ivy, listen to me. If that memory finishes, the Eye will take you with it."

"Then stop hiding the truth."

"I'm not hiding it. I'm keeping you alive."

A laugh crawled out of my mouth. It wasn't mine.

Elias shoved behind my teeth, forcing my jaw to jerk toward Cade.

"Let me tear him open," he whispered through me. "Let me show you what he buried."

Cade's eyes dropped to my mouth for half a second.

Then he dragged them back to mine.

"Elias is driving you," he said. "Fight him."

"I'm fighting everybody.