Chapter 50 · Maybe I’d Rather Take My Chances

"Maybe I’d rather take my chances than let you own me."

Carson’s hand clamped harder around my waist.

His body pinned mine against the crown chamber’s black stone throne. Heat soaked through my clothes. Dust drifted from the ceiling as the shield groaned above us.

"You’re not mine to own," he said.

"The contract says otherwise."

"The contract says your life is tied to mine. It doesn’t give me the right to take it."

"Pretty speech from the man who arrested my brother."

His face went cold.

Beyond the sealed doors, metal boomed under another удар.

"Chief! Open the chamber!" a guard shouted. "Now!"

Carson didn’t look away from me.

"Noah’s alive," he said.

My stomach dropped. "You know where he is."

"I know where they moved him."

"You said you didn’t."

"I said I couldn’t reach him. Those aren’t the same thing."

"Where is he?"

The crown lock pulsed between us, black metal breathing heat against my palm.

Carson’s eyes cut toward it.

"Break this first."

"Tell me where my brother is.