The word burned right there on my tongue. I didn't even know yet whose voice was making it happen. Mine or the shadow's.
"Wren." I rasped it out. My throat felt raw. "Don't."
But the rest just tangled up. It choked me. Turned into something that wasn't really mine at all. I felt it coil around my lungs like smoke. Eager to pour right out.
He didn't let go. His grip stayed iron tight. His jaw set like stone. Even with fear brimming in his eyes. Fear he wouldn't say out loud. "Don't what. Don't hold on. Don't fight for you. Tell me, Viv. Because I'll do it. Whatever it takes."
That cracked something in me. He wasn't afraid of me. He was afraid of losing me. And that truth cut deeper than the shadow's pull.
But then there was this other tug. A pressure that wasn't even here in the sanctu
