Chapter 38 · Permission to Obey

He drew the knife from his belt.

I caught his wrist before the blade reached my skin. "No."

"Ivy."

"What does your blood do?"

The red ward-light cut across Carson's face. It caught the dried blood at the corner of his mouth and the cold shine in his eyes.

He didn't try to pull free. His wrist stayed trapped beneath my fingers, hot and hard against my palm.

"It gives the machine a command," he said.

"And mine?"

His gaze dropped to the black mark circling my wrist.

"Yours gives it permission."

Behind us, metal slammed against metal.

The guards had reached the corridor.

I tightened my grip. "Permission for what?"

Carson looked toward the sealed door.

"To recognize the person it was built to protect."

"That's not an answer."

"It's the only one I have."

The broken entrance shook again. Silver armor flashed through the gap. Boots pounded over the stone, fast and getting faster.

I shoved Carson's wrist away from the knife. "You knew."

"I suspected."

"You dragged me here because you suspected I could open it.