Chapter 2

"You put it on me," I snapped. "Try remembering your own decisions."

His grip tightened. My pulse jumped beneath his fingers, and his eyes dropped to it.

"The pact's already feeding."

"Then feed it your hand."

His mouth flattened. "You think this is funny?"

"No. I think you dragged me into your house, shoved a cursed ring on my finger, and called it a marriage. I'm trying to keep my sense of humor alive."

Kane stood between me and the black iron door at the end of the hall. He'd changed out of the formal coat from the contract signing, but his shirt still clung to his shoulders. One sleeve was rolled to his elbow.

A thin cut crossed his forearm. Fresh blood tracked down toward his wrist.

I looked at it.

He caught me looking.

"Don't."

"Don't bleed in front of me, then."

"You hear what disasters leave behind."

"I hear more than that."

His thumb pressed once against my pulse.

A warning.

Or a test.

The ring answered with a sharp bite.

I sucked in a breath. "What the hell was that?"

Kane leaned closer. His body blocked the hall lamps, leaving his face half in shadow. Smoke clung to him. Clean soap. Bitter iron from the cut on his arm.

"What did you hear?" he asked.

"A door locking. Three people arguing. Someone begging."

I pulled against his grip. "And your guards telling me I can't enter this wing."

"You can't."

"I'm your wife."

The words hit the space between us harder than I meant them to.

Kane's jaw flexed. "For thirty days."

"Thirty days is long enough to walk through my own house."

"This isn't your house."

"You signed the contract in front of half the city. Your council heard you call me your wife. Unless your oath means less than your handwriting, move."

His eyes sharpened.

There. A crack in all that control.

The contract gave me almost nothing. No money. No authority over his city. No promise he'd help restore my family's disaster license.

But one clause had been clear: while the pact stood, I had the same right of access as Kane's legal spouse inside his residence.

He'd written it himself.

I lifted my ringed hand between us. "Move, Warden."

"You don't know what you're asking for."

"I know exactly what I'm asking for. I'm asking you to stop treating me like a prisoner while you use my blood to hold your city together."

The muscles in his forearm pulled tight.

For one second, I thought he'd drag me away from the door.

Then he let go.

The spot where his fingers had held me kept burning.

Kane stepped aside.

Not far. Just enough.

I walked past him before he could change his mind.

"That was almost polite," I said.

"Don't make me regret it."

"You regret everything that doesn't end with someone kneeling."

"You haven't seen me make anyone kneel."

I stopped at the sealed door. "Was that a threat?"

"A promise."

His voice brushed the back of my neck. Too close again.

Heat pressed through the thin fabric of my dress. He still wasn't touching me, but I could feel him behind me anyway—the warmth of his chest, the slow breath near my ear, the faint scrape of his sleeve when he shifted.

I turned my head. "You're enjoying this."

"Watching you threaten a door? A little."

"Watching me stand in your house and take what you said was mine."

His gaze dropped to my mouth.

Quick.

Not quick enough.

"Careful," I said. "Someone might think you like having a wife."

"Someone might think you want me to."

The answer landed low in my stomach.

I faced the door again. "Keep dreaming."

"You keep looking at my mouth."

"I was looking at your blood."

"Liar."

"Warden."

A quiet laugh left him. It was rough, almost unwilling. The sound slid over my skin and made the ring pulse again.

I clenched my hand. "Don't do that."

His amusement vanished. "Do what?"

"Make the pact react."

"I didn't."

"Then why is it burning?"

Kane's gaze dropped to the ring. His shoulders went rigid.

"Step back," he said.

"No."

"I said step back."

"And I said no. You don't get to bark orders after locking me out of my own marriage."

"This isn't about the marriage."

"Everything in this house is about the marriage. You made sure of that when you put this thing on me."

The silver line around the doorframe began to glow.

I pointed at it. "That wasn't doing that before."

"I know."

"What did you do?"

"Nothing."

"Kane."

"I said nothing."

The light crawled around the black stone, thin and bright. The ring pulled toward it, dragging my hand forward.

Kane caught my elbow.

"Don't touch the seal."

"Why?"

"Because it knows your blood now."

"That's not an answer."

"It's the only one you're getting."

I twisted against him. "You brought me here to sign a marriage pact, threatened to expose my family's failure, and hid a disaster engine behind your bedroom wall. You don't get to ration answers."

"I get to decide what keeps you alive."

"You don't get to decide that anymore."

His fingers tightened around my elbow. Not enough to hurt. Enough to stop me.

Our bodies nearly touched.

His breath warmed my cheek. Mine caught before I could stop it.

Kane noticed.

Of course he did.

His eyes dropped to my lips again, then lifted to meet mine. The distance between us shrank to one breath, one stupid movement, one bad decision.

"Tell me to let go," he said.

"Let go."

He didn't move.

"I said let go."

"You don't mean it."

"You don't know what I mean."

"I know your pulse."

His thumb brushed the inside of my elbow.

The ring flared.

Behind us, something slammed against the other side of the sealed door.

I jerked toward it. Kane pulled me back against him, one arm locking around my waist.

"What was that?" I whispered.

"Nothing."

"Don't lie to me."

Another impact shook the black iron.

This time, a voice came through.

A woman's voice.

Broken. Terrified.

"Warden... please..."

My blood went cold.

I shoved at Kane's arm. "Open it."

"No."

"Someone's trapped in there."

"You don't know that."

"She called you Warden. Who else would she be calling?"

"You can't help her."

"Move."

"Not this time."

I drove my elbow back. He caught it before it reached him and turned me around. My shoulders hit the iron door.

The cold metal cut through my dress. Kane's body boxed me in, his hand braced beside my head.

"Listen to me," he said. "If that door opens, the pact won't protect you."

"The pact is already eating me alive."

"It'll do worse than that."

"Then stop hiding behind warnings and tell me what you did to me."

His face was inches from mine. His breath touched my mouth.

For one dangerous second, neither of us moved.

Then the voice behind the door screamed.

"Kane!"

He flinched.

I felt it beneath my palms where they pressed against his chest.

"You know her," I whispered.

His eyes locked on mine.

"Who is she?"

"Don't ask me that."

"Who is she?"

The silver seal flashed hard enough to blind me.

Kane's hand shot toward the door.

I grabbed his wrist. "No. You're not stopping me again."

"You have no idea what's behind that door."

"Then open it."

"If I do, you'll see why I chose you."

My grip tightened. "Chose me for what?"

Kane stared at me, his pulse pounding beneath my fingers.

The black ring split with a thin crack.

Something on the other side whispered my name.

Kane raised his hand toward the glowing seal. "If you open this door, wife, the first thing you'll learn is why I needed your blood to—"