Chapter 33 · The Name Under the Mark

"Get your hand off me, Kane. I’m not the one who sold you out."

His fingers locked around my wrist just before the chamber wall crushed it.

Stone folded inward with a vicious crack. Iron ribs groaned as the room dragged itself smaller.

Kane yanked me against his chest. The impact knocked the breath from my lungs. Heat poured through his coat, too hot, too wrong. Black blood leaked from beneath his ribs and soaked through his shirt.

"You’re wearing the betrayal seal," he said.

"I’m wearing your contract mark. There’s a difference."

"Not anymore."

A red line burned across the inside of my wrist. It hadn’t been there when we entered. Now it curled around the marriage mark like a second ring.

The chamber groaned again.

Behind Kane, the sealed door shrank another foot.

Oscar’s voice crackled through the brass speaking tube above it.

"You have three minutes before the chamber folds completely," he called. "One spouse has already betrayed the other. You should decide which one before the walls decide for you."

Kane shoved me behind him.

"Open the door, Oscar!"

"You still think you can order me around?" Oscar said. "That’s adorable, Warden."

The tube went dead.