Chapter 22 · I don't have it

"I don't have it."

Cael looked at the chain between them. "You do."

The words made her stomach drop.

"Where?"

"Inside the link."

"That's not a place."

"For witches, it is."

"Don't call me that like you know me."

"I know your hands."

His thumb brushed the inside of her wrist. A quick touch. Barely there.

Still, her pulse jumped beneath it.

"You know what my hands can do," she said. "That's different."

"You wrote contracts with your left hand. You used to tap the table twice before lying."

Lia stopped breathing.

Cael stared at her. "You just did it."

She looked down.

Her left fingers had tapped twice against his coat.

"That's not proof."

"No. It's a warning."

"From who?"

His expression tightened. "From the part of me that remembers you."

The car jolted. Sable slammed the brakes. Their bodies pitched forward. Cael caught Lia against him, one arm across her chest. His mouth brushed the side of her hair as he swore.

Outside, boots pounded over the hood.

"Wardens," Sable said. "Six, maybe eight."

"Can they open the doors?" Lia asked.

"Give them ten seconds."

"Then we have nine.