Chapter 49 · The Seal's Choice

"She's the source of the breach."

"Then let the seal decide."

Cassian kept his hand out to me.

A guard's grip dug into my arm. The rifle against my ribs left no room to breathe, but I barely felt either one. All I could see was Cassian on one knee beside the black seal, blood running from his shoulder and dripping between its carved lines.

His fingers shook.

Not from fear.

Pain had hollowed out his face, and he wasn't hiding it from me anymore. He was letting me feel every second of it through the bond.

"If I take that," I said, "they'll call it treason."

"They already call you a traitor."

"And you?"

Cassian lifted his head.

For the first time since the bond ceremony, he looked straight at me.

"I don't care what they call me."

That landed harder than any apology could have.

The guard jerked my arm. "Step away from the seal. Now."

I pulled free.

He reached for me again.

Cassian's voice cracked across the chamber. "Touch her one more time, and I'll break your wrist before you get that rifle up."

The guard froze.

The captain raised his weapon.