Chapter 13 · The Mark

The necklace hits the floor.

Silver on marble. Every vampire in the room hears it.

Something inside me cracks open. Not painful—just wide. Like a door I didn't know was there slamming back.

The air changes.

I can taste them. All of them. Sixty-three heartbeats layered on top of each other, fast and slow, panicked and cold. Victor's at two o'clock, twelve feet back. Adrian's still on his knees in front of me, his pulse spiking hard. Four guards at the door. Nine Council members on the left. Twenty more behind Victor.

I know exactly where every single one of them is.

My hands are shaking. I look down and they're glowing. Actually glowing. Faint silver lines running up my wrists like veins.

"What the hell," I whisper.

Victor's not laughing anymore.

He's staring at me. Face blank. The smug twist of his mouth—gone. He takes one step back. Then another.

"That's not possible," he says.

Adrian gets to his feet. Slow. His eyes locked on my hands. On the silver light crawling up my forearms. "Lynn—"

"I can feel all of you." My voice doesn't sound like mine. Steadier. Colder. "Every single heartbeat in this room.