Chapter 21 · Forbidden Basement

"Put the knife down, Sera." Kael's hand closed around my wrist before I could drive the blade into the glowing crystal.

I twisted hard. His grip tightened.

"Take your hand off me."

"Not while you're about to touch a Saint Shard with a curse burning through your veins."

"Then stop wasting time and let me touch it."

The shard pulsed between us, trapped inside a steel frame bolted to the basement floor. Blue-white light leaked through the cracks in the metal. Every pulse made the dead man on the table jerk against his restraints.

He wasn't dead. Not yet.

His mouth opened, but only a rough clicking sound came out. Black lines crawled beneath his skin, climbing from his neck to his cheeks. A church brand had been carved into his chest. The mark glowed every time the shard did.

Kael glanced at him.

That was all the opening I needed.

I slammed my knee into his thigh and ripped my wrist free. His shoulder struck the wall. The chain around his coat snapped tight, dragging him back before he could reach for me.

"Sera!"

I dropped beside the frame.

Kael shoved off the wall.