If You Leave, I Leave novel · Chapter 4 of 24

Chapter 4: Silver Cuffs

The sound woke me a little after two in the morning.

It was low and long, and it came through the stone of the palace from the east wing.

I lay in the unfamiliar bed in the west rooms with the key in my fist and told myself it was the pipes.

Then it came again, and it had a break in the middle of it that no pipe had ever made.

I put on my robe and went.

The family landing was dark, and a thin line of light lay under Verity's door.

I walked past it with my bare feet silent on the carpet.

Corwin's study was not locked.

I pushed the door open and found him on the floor.

He sat with his back against the leg of the desk, and both of his wrists were in silver cuffs.

A short chain ran from each cuff to an iron ring bolted into the boards.

His shirt was torn open at the neck.

The skin under each cuff was burned raw, and a thread of smoke rose from it.

He lifted his head, and his eyes were silver all the way across.

"Get out," he said.

His voice was not quite his.

"No."

"Aveline. Get out."

"Who did this to you?"

"I did."

I shut the door behind me and crossed the room.

He pulled back against the chain until the silver sizzled, and I stopped where I was.

"Where's the key?"

He said nothing.

I looked at his throat, and there it was, a thin cord disappearing under his collar.

"Don't," he said. "Please don't come closer."

I knelt in front of him anyway.

I put two fingers under the cord at the base of his neck, and his whole chest went still against my knuckles.

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