Chapter 16 · The Royal Blood Gate

The chip hits the floor and cracks down the middle.

Mara doesn't pick it up. She's staring at me like I just grew a second head.

"What?" I snap. My hand's still bleeding from where Grayson's tech pierced the vein. The gold-silver glow is fading but I can still see it under my skin, pulsing with my heartbeat.

"The gate," Mara says. Her voice is flat. Too flat. "It's not a metaphor. It's an actual door. Three hundred years old. Sealed with royal blood because the thing behind it ate half the Court before they got it locked."

Silas moves. He's across the room in two steps, yanking the chip off the floor. His fingers close around it and I hear the ceramic casing splinter.

"Where," he says.

Mara backs up. "Sub-level nine. Old metro tunnels. The Ward family's been sitting on the entrance for decades. Probably how they got rich. You want to guard a doomsday weapon, you charge rent."

I'm still trying to catch up. "What does my blood have to do with—"

"Everything." Silas turns. His eyes are full black. Not the angry kind. The terrified kind. "Your bloodline built the gate. Moore and Vane together.