Chapter 11 · Behind the Old Gate

Silas grabbed my wrist before I could take another step toward the stairs.

"Don't." His voice came out rough. Blood still dripped from his nose, and the bond between us throbbed like a second heartbeat. "You don't know what's down there."

I yanked my hand back. "My mother's voice is down there."

"Your mother's been dead for twenty years." He swayed on his feet, and I hated that I felt it—the pull in my chest, the contract screaming at me to catch him before he fell. "Whatever you heard, it's not her."

The red light from the opening pulsed, and I swear I heard it again. Ivy. Come home.

Lady Casta's voice cut through the chaos behind us. "Seal the gate. Now. Magistrate Thorne, I need a containment order—"

"The gate hasn't opened in two decades," Thorne said. He sounded old suddenly. Tired. "I don't have the authority to seal what the Purge couldn't kill."

I looked at Silas. "What's the Purge?"

He didn't answer. Just stared at the stairs like they might swallow him whole.

The crowd behind us had turned into a stampede. Courtiers shoved past each other, and I saw Commander Vale barking orders at his unit.