Chapter 22 · The Inspector's Second Heart

Cael's laughter stopped being human.

It scraped through the underground chamber in thin, broken bursts, as if something inside his throat had forgotten how to breathe. Black veins climbed from the hollow beneath his collarbone, branching over his neck and jaw. The skin around them had gone pale and glassy. His eyes remained blue, but a second light burned behind them—gold without warmth, bright as a furnace seen through a locked door.

Lio tightened her fingers around the black crystal.

It was cold enough to hurt. The pain ran up her wrist and lodged beneath her ribs, where Oro shifted like a chained storm.

Do not let it touch him again, Oro said.

For once, the dragon's voice held no arrogance. No ancient disdain. Only fear.

Lio looked from the crystal to Cael. He stood between her and Mara, though his knees trembled beneath him. Blood from the wound in his side had soaked through his coat.