Chapter 30 · A New Name On the Page

"It's moving."

Sona didn't knock. She kicked the door open, ledger clutched to her chest, and grabbed Rhys by the shirt before he'd even sat up.

"The page. Ethlin's page. It's moving, Rhys, look at it."

He looked. The ink was crawling.

Not flowing. Not smudging. Crawling, letter by letter, like something under the paper was pushing through. Ethlin Krey. The name pulsed once, dark red instead of black, and under it a line of numbers ticked down the way a fuse burns.

"How long." His voice came out flat.

"I don't know how to read your damned book." Sona shoved it into his hands hard enough to sting. "You read it. You always know when someone's about to die. So tell me."

"Nine minutes." He didn't need to count. "Maybe less."

"Then move."

She was already at the door, blade out, hair coming loose from its braid. For half a second he just stood there staring at her back — furious, terrified, refusing to let either show — and thought, not for the first time, that he understood exactly why last loop he'd taken a sword for her without thinking twice.

"Rhys." She didn't turn around. "Nine minutes.