Chapter 28 · Eyes in the Glass

The glass cracked wider. That red eye stared straight at me.

Seraphine's voice poured out like smoke. "Did you really think a half-blood ritual could sever a three-century claim?"

I tried to push myself up. My hands slipped in my own blood. Dorian was already moving, pulling me away from the incubator. Edwin stumbled back against the sink, his face gray.

"Get her out," Edwin said. His voice shook. "Dorian, get her out now."

"What did you do?" Dorian's grip on my arm was tight enough to bruise. He wasn't looking at me. He was looking at Edwin. "What the hell did you do?"

"I didn't—" Edwin stared at the incubator. The runes were crawling across the glass now, moving like living things. "Someone hijacked the bloodline. Someone with access to the Court's anchor points."

The eye blinked. Slow. Deliberate.

"Hello, Dorian." Seraphine's voice was sweet. Too sweet. "Iris. And the little mistake inside her."

My stomach twisted. Not from pain this time. From rage.

"She can't be here," I said. My voice came out hoarse. "She's not—this is just glass. She's not in the glass."

"No." Dorian hauled me to my feet. His hands were shaking.