Chapter 26 · She's Still Breathing

The vault door slammed behind Rona hard enough to shake dust from the ceiling.

Dax caught her around the waist before she hit the floor. His arm locked across her ribs, crushing the air out of her.

"Let go," she snapped.

"Not happening."

Across the room, Erika Winn stood with one hand pressed against the black stone seal. Blood ran from her palm and disappeared into the carved lines around it. Her face had gone pale, but her eyes stayed fixed on Rona.

"Rona," Ghost said. "You have one minute. Maybe less. Listen to me."

Dax hauled Rona backward. "She's using you. That's what she does."

"And your plan is what?" Erika shot back. "Drag her out and let the seal finish killing her mother?"

Rona stopped fighting for half a second.

Her mother.

The words hit harder than Dax's arm.

Grimm had said the vault was empty. He had said there was nothing left to find. The room had no bed, no body, no dust-covered bones.