Chapter 63 · The Third Clause

"Don't touch the heart." Kane caught my wrist before I could reach the furnace door. "If you step through that breach, it takes more than blood. It takes you."

"Let go."

His grip tightened.

Heat blasted out of the cracked chamber, burning through my coat and drying the sweat at my neck. Kane stood too close, his chest nearly brushing mine. His rough breath dragged across my cheek.

"Evelyn. Listen to me."

"I've listened to you for thirty-seven days." I jerked against his hand. "Run when I tell you. Stay behind me. Don't ask what it costs. You don't get to make that call anymore."

His jaw locked. Black veins pulsed beneath his skin, lit from within by the contract heart.

"You think I want to make it?" he asked.

"I think you're planning to die and call it protection."

That hit him.

His eyes dropped to my mouth for half a second before he looked away.

"If the breach takes a life, it'll take mine. Not yours."

"That's not noble. It's lazy."

I tore my wrist free and shoved his hand away.