Chapter 13 · The Seal Inside His Heart

The emergency relay died with a sound like a giant inhaling.

For one suspended second, the throne room held its breath.

Then the floor split.

A black fracture raced beneath Lio’s boots, branching through the silver tiles and swallowing the glowing symbols one by one. Heat surged up from the darkness below. It smelled of scorched stone, old blood, and something wet enough to have been buried beneath the city since the beginning of time.

Mara grabbed the back of Lio’s coat. ‘Move!’

Lio stumbled toward the ruined archway, her left palm clamped against her chest. The second seal burned beneath her skin. It had entered her hand as a thread of white fire, then folded itself into a dark, intricate mark shaped like a dragon’s eye. Every pulse sent a blade of pain up her arm.

Behind her, the throne screamed.

Not with a voice. With metal.

Its thousand record plates tore loose from the walls and spun through the air, each one reflecting fragments of the city: towers tipping over clouds, bridges buckling, districts lit by riots and rescue fires. The images flickered so quickly they became a single enormous wound.

Cael caught Lio before she fell.