Chapter 6

Two guards slammed me face-first against the anvil. My hammer skittered across the floor. "Kaden, what are you DOING?" He opened the folder slowly. Inside was yellowed parchment covered in my father's handwriting. Two signatures in rusty brown. Thomas Hale. Kaden Blackwood. A blood oath. My stomach dropped. "No." "Ten years ago, your father came to me begging," Kaden said. "Vale hunters were tracking him. I hid him. Hid your mother's grave. Hid you." His eyes met mine. "In exchange, he swore...