Chapter 24 · Blood Deal

"You heard her." Luke's voice cut through the dark before I saw him. "Don't drink my blood. That was the deal."

I stopped ten feet away. My nails were already out. I hadn't told them to do that.

Luke leaned against the wagon wheel, one hand clamped over his cut arm. Fresh blood slipped between his fingers. The smell hit me like a fist—gunpowder, salt, and heat. My throat closed around a want that wasn't mine to command.

"What deal?" My voice came out rough.

Luke shifted. Rope burns circled his wrists. "The one I made before you woke up. Edith said she'd leave the train alone if I led her to the nest. You, too."

"You sold us out."

"I sold out the things killing people." He didn't sound sorry. "The nest's upstream. The ones leaving bodies in the gullies. Edith said they were hers. She'd clean it up if I helped."

"And me?"

He looked at me. "You're not like them. You know that, right?"

"No. I don't know anything right now."

His gaze dropped to my mouth.