Chapter 13 · The Bone Chamber

"Sula, move!" Kaiser shouted.

The claw punched through the iron doors before I could turn.

Bone scraped over metal. The sound hit my teeth. A hooked white talon curled around the broken doorframe, and the whole command hall shook beneath my boots.

Varan grabbed my waist and hauled me backward. His chest slammed into my back. Heat rolled off him for one sharp second, hot breath against my ear.

Then his grip weakened.

"You're freezing," I said.

"I'm fine."

"You can barely stand."

"I said I'm—"

The doors burst apart.

A massive skull forced its way through the gap, wider than a warhorse's body. Black marrow threaded between its ribs, pulsing under the bone like rotten fire. Its empty eye sockets locked on me.

The beast opened its jaw.

Kaiser shoved a guard out of the way as a blast of bone dust tore across the hall. Tables flipped. Glass shattered. Someone screamed.

"Get behind the pillars!" Kaiser snapped. "Nobody touch Sula's blood!"

Aileen stood near the command table, clutching the hand she'd used to cast the severing spell. Red lines crawled from her palm to her wrist.

She stared at me. "You did this.