Chapter 35 · Slipping into the Sanctuary

"Sera, don't you dare let go." Kael's hand locked around my wrist as the throne dragged me across the black stone.

"I'm not letting go," I snapped. "I'm being pulled. There's a difference."

The old sanctuary shook under us. Saint shards lifted from their iron cradles, spinning above the buried chamber like a storm of broken glass. Blue-white light cut across Kael's face. Blood ran from the corner of his mouth, and the binding burned red beneath his collar.

My arm stretched toward him anyway.

Not toward his chest. Not toward his throat. The mark on his skin. The key.

The throne wanted me to touch it.

"Your curse is locking onto my binding," Kael said through clenched teeth. "Fight it."

"Brilliant advice. Got anything useful?"

"Yes. Stop trying to stab me with your free hand."

I looked down. My dagger was pressed against the gap beneath his ribs.

I hadn't even felt myself raise it.

"Move your hand," I said.

"No."

"Kael."

"You put that blade in me, the system gets what it wants."

The throne groaned. A ring of symbols lit beneath our boots, and the pull doubled. My shoulder jerked forward.