Chapter 15 · Bride Back in the Spotlight

"He's one door away." Nora's voice crackled through the earpiece, sharp enough to cut through the bass vibrating up from the gala floor below. "East service hall. Two guards. Camera's on a forty-second loop."

I pressed my palm flat against the marble column, trying to steady the shake in my fingers. The charity wing of the EmberSaint tower was all crystal chandeliers and velvet rope, donors in black tie sipping champagne three floors down while my brother sat in a locked room somewhere above me.

"How do you know it's him?" I whispered.

"Because the thermal camera just picked up a kid-sized shape that hasn't moved in six hours," Nora said. "And because Vale's security detail changed shifts twice in the last thirty minutes. They don't do that for empty rooms."

My heart slammed against my ribs. Eli. Right there.

"Evie." Kane's voice came from behind me, low and tight. "We're leaving."

I turned. He stood at the top of the service stair, still in the torn shirt from the vault, blood dried black along his collar. His eyes were wrong. Too bright. Too still.

"No," I said. "We're not."

"Yes," he said. "We are.