Chapter 32 · Cursed Resonance

"Don't touch me." Kael's hand stopped an inch from my throat, but the curse didn't.

Black lines crawled under my skin, burning from my collarbone to my wrist. The stolen shard pulsed between us, buried in the center of my chest like a second, furious heart.

Kael caught my arm before I could claw at it. His grip locked around my wrist. Warm. Solid. Infuriatingly steady.

"You're shaking."

"I'm not."

"Sera."

"Call me that again and I'll bite you."

His jaw tightened. "You can barely stand."

I tried to prove him wrong.

My knee buckled. Kael hauled me against him before I hit the floor, one arm braced around my waist. My back slammed into his chest. His coat scratched my cheek. His breath touched the side of my neck.

The curse reacted like it knew him.

Pain ripped through me.

I bit down hard enough to taste blood.

"Get off," I snapped.

"Not while you're trying to tear your own skin open."

"I said get off me!"

"And I said no."

That was the problem with Kael. He said no like the word had been forged into a blade. No hesitation. No apology.