Chapter 22 · The Second Seal

"Take your hand off my throat, Kane. The pact's already taken enough from me."

His fingers tightened for one brutal second.

Then he let go.

I stumbled into the stone table, coughing. His heat stayed under my jaw like a brand. Kane stood close, black coat streaked with ash from the breach, his breath brushing my cheek.

"You opened the second layer without me," he said.

"You were busy trying to break my wrist."

"You reached for a memory that can bite back."

"Then stop locking answers inside my father's ledger."

The ledger lay between us, its leather cover split down the middle. Red light crawled through the crack.

Not reflected light.

Blood.

Mine dripped from the cut across my palm and sank into the old Hart seal stamped on the cover.

Kane caught my wrist before I could touch it again.

"You're bleeding on the evidence."

"Good. Maybe it'll finally tell the truth."

His thumb pressed against my pulse. Practical. Controlled.

My body didn't care.

Heat climbed my arm.