Chapter 47 · The Face Beneath the Mask

"Don't put that knife in me, Evelyn."

Kane's hand locked around my wrist. The contract yanked harder.

Red letters crawled over my skin. His real name burned into my palm like a brand, and the blade hovered over the wound in his chest.

Blood had soaked through his shirt. Warm. Slick beneath my knuckles.

"I'm not doing this."

"Your hand is."

"Then stop it. You're the Warden, aren't you?"

His jaw clenched. "I can't stop the contract from inside the binding."

"You made the damn thing."

"I made the first version."

The sealed door behind him shook hard enough to rattle dust from the ceiling.

A woman's voice slid through the metal.

My voice.

Older. Colder.

"You killed him before, Evelyn. You remember the knife. You remember his heart stopping."

"Shut up!" I screamed at the door.

The contract cinched around my forearm. My fingers jerked. Kane caught the blade a breath before it touched his chest.

His palm closed over mine.

Heat rushed between us. His breath hit my cheek, rough and fast. His body was too close, his blood too warm, his heartbeat too loud beneath my hand.

"Look at me," he said.

"I am looking at you.