Chapter 13 · The Voice Under the Sand

The stone guards moved first.

Alto threw himself sideways as the nearest one's fist cratered the sand where he'd been standing. The impact sent a shockwave up through his boots. His own voice kept talking from somewhere inside the tomb entrance, calm and steady, like it was reading off a supply list.

"Seal integrity holding at ninety-two percent. Authorization required for secondary access."

That wasn't his voice. It was, the timbre and the cadence were exactly right, but those weren't words he'd ever said. Arlen Kash had never talked like a gods-damned census clerk.

"Move!" Kael's shout snapped him back. The ex-lieutenant had his blade out, a rusted strip of pit-sharpened metal, and he was already circling left to draw the second guard's attention.

Alto rolled, came up in a crouch, and his hand hit the blood seal. The stone was warm. No, it was hot, hotter than the sand at noon, and the carved lines of the crest glowed red under his palm. The Kash family mark. His mark, from a life that had ended in blood and smoke and a blade he never saw coming.

The seal pulsed.