Chapter 20 · Deadly Deal

"Stay behind me, Alice. Unless you want a poisoned needle in your pretty neck."

Silas didn't look back. He stepped forward, his shoulder brushing mine. His voice was a low, dangerous vibration I felt right in my teeth. We were in the east wing's narrow corridor—damp, smelling of wet stone and old blood.

"I can handle myself," I snapped. My fingers were still shaking around the stolen letter. *Erase the remaining bloodline.* The words were burned into my retinas. "Since when are you my bodyguard?"

Silas stopped. Fast.

He spun and pinned me against the cold wall in one blur of motion. He didn't touch me, but his palm slammed into the stone next to my ear. *Crack.* It sounded like a gunshot. He leaned in, filling my lungs with sandalwood and something metallic. Like a blade.

"Since you became a liability," he whispered. His eyes searched mine, cold and calculating. "You're shaking. Is it fear, or are you just excited that Caine finally stopped pretending to love you?"

I glared up at him. I refused to flinch. "I'm not afraid of him. I'm disgusted. And I'm not a liability—I'm the only one who knows where the vault keys are."