Chapter 15 · The Bone Says Who Died

"Let her go, Julian." Celeste stood above the collapsing altar with one hand raised, her white sleeve untouched by ash. "You want your revenge? Take it. Let Mara fall, and I’ll give you the killer’s name."

Julian’s grip tightened around Mara’s wrist.

The stone beneath her boots cracked again.

"Don’t listen to her," Mara snapped. "She’s buying time."

"You’re the one standing on a trapdoor," Julian said.

"Then stop staring and move."

He looked down. A black line had split the altar from edge to edge. Blue light pulsed under it, bright enough to cut through the smoke. Mara’s boots were already sinking.

Julian had one hand locked around her arm. His other held the ash-crown vessel against his ribs. Celeste had placed a blade against Mara’s younger brother Eli’s throat. He was on his knees beside the broken dais.

Three lives.

One choice.

Celeste smiled like she had all night.

"The vessel," she called. "Give it to me, Julian. The girl drops. Keep it, and her brother dies. Save them both, and the seal takes the whole room down."

Mara twisted against Julian’s hold. "Let go."

His fingers dug into her skin. "Not happening.