Chapter 29 · Her Heart Starts the Lock

"Don't touch it."

Mara's fingertips were half an inch from the lock when Adrian's voice cut through the hum. She didn't pull back. The door in front of her wasn't wood or metal—it was something older, something that pulsed faintly under the workshop's dim light. The lock sat dead center, brass and black iron twisted together like a scar.

"I'm not asking for permission," she said.

"Good. Because I'm not giving it."

She turned her head just enough to catch him in her periphery. He stood three steps behind her, hands loose at his sides, but his jaw was locked tight. The kind of tight that came right before someone did something stupid.

"You think I don't know what's behind this?" she said. "My mother's name is carved into half the seals you've been breaking. If there's answers in there, I'm the one who gets first look."

"You get first look, you get first claim." Adrian stepped closer. "That's how it works. The breach doesn't care about your detective work. It cares about who opens the lock."

"Then it can care all it wants." Mara reached forward again.

His hand shot out and caught her wrist.