Chapter 35 · The Echo Beneath My Skin

"Take your hand off her. Now."

Kane's voice cracked through the council chamber before Venn's guards could force me to my knees.

One guard twisted my wrist behind my back. The other pressed a black iron collar beneath my jaw.

My contract mark burned under my skin. Hot. Deep. My fingers shook against the stone floor.

Councilor Venn smiled from behind the council table. "Your wife attacked a councilor. She doesn't get to give orders."

"She didn't attack him," Kane said.

Blood ran from the cut above his brow. His coat hung open at the ribs, torn and dark with smoke. Every breath pulled tight across his mouth.

He still stepped between me and the guards.

"She heard an echo," he said. "Touch her again, and I'll break both your hands."

The guard shoved me forward.

Kane caught me before my shoulder hit the floor.

His palm locked around my waist. Heat pushed through my shirt. His breath brushed my temple, sharp with blood and smoke.

"Can you stand?" he asked.

"Can you stop bleeding on me?"

His jaw tightened. "That wasn't what I asked."

"Then ask a better question."

The council chamber exploded.

"She tampered with the memory chamber!"