Chapter 10 · A Map Under His Skin

"Don't touch the door." Elias caught Nora's wrist before her fingers reached the red mark carved into the stone.

His grip was hot. Not warm. Hot enough to make her teeth clench.

Nora twisted hard. "Let go."

"You heard the warning."

"I heard Finn."

"You heard something wearing his voice."

She drove her elbow toward his ribs. Elias turned with it, caught her other arm, and shoved her back against the tunnel wall. Stone hit her shoulder. His body blocked the narrow passage, close enough that his breath brushed her cheek.

Behind him, the blood mark pulsed once.

Nora stared at his face. "Move."

"No."

"That's not your call."

"It becomes my call when opening that door kills you."

"And if Finn is behind it?"

His jaw tightened. "Then you don't walk in alone."

"You don't get to give me rules. You're the reason we're running from the Council."

"I'm the reason you're still breathing."

"You used me."

The words landed harder than her elbow had.

Elias went still, but he didn't release her. His thumb pressed against the inside of her wrist, right over the mark their binding had burned into her skin.