Chapter 40 · The Choice

"I won't."

Cassian kept his voice low, but the threat cut through the drowned chamber.

I held the tide blade against his throat. "Lie to me again, and I'll cut the bond myself. Even if it kills you."

His jaw tightened. "Then I won't lie."

"You already promised me honesty."

"Then I won't survive the next lie."

That shut me up.

Cassian knelt in the shallow water, one knee pressed into the flooded stone. His breath scraped in and out. Heat burned beneath my fingers where I held his chin.

Still, he didn't move.

He waited.

I could've made him wait longer. Hell, I should have. He'd left me standing alone while the harbor watched him reject me. He'd let my tide mark burn in front of every courthouse in the city.

But Evelyn was inside his blood now.

If Cassian died, the floodgates would open.

I hooked two fingers beneath his chin and forced his face up. His eyes dropped to my mouth. This time, he didn't bother pretending I hadn't caught him.

"You asked without touching me," I said.

"I did."

"Then don't move."

"Mara—"

I kissed him.

Not gently.

Not sweetly.

My teeth caught his lower lip.