Chapter 22 · The Last Seal

"Don't put that key in there." I caught Cedric's wrist before the brass tooth touched the console.

His hand stopped inches above the slot. The half-burned order lay under his other palm, black edges curling against the metal.

"You're bleeding into the socket," he said.

"I know what I'm doing."

"That's what you said before you nearly died in the east tunnel."

"And you still followed me in. Try blaming yourself for once."

Cedric turned his wrist under my fingers. His skin was hot. Mine was slick with blood from the cut across my palm, and the thin red line had already reached the carved Morrow crest set into the console.

The old chamber shuddered around us.

Dust dropped from the stone ceiling. Somewhere beyond the sealed doors, the fortress guns fired once. The sound rolled through my ribs.

Cedric's eyes stayed on my hand.

"Move," he said.

"No."

His jaw tightened. "Evelyn."

"You want the White Candle projection. You want to know who signed the order that erased my family. Fine. But you don't get to shove a power source into a socket while my blood is still feeding it."

"Your blood is the only thing that woke it."