Chapter 13 · The Bell Rang Early

The seal on his wrist burned white-hot. Lucan's body jerked upright in the narrow cot, breath caught somewhere between his lungs and throat. The ancestral bell shouldn't ring for another three days. That's what Cassian had said. Three days until the shrine opened and Orin made his move. But the sound rolled through the compound walls anyway, low and wrong, like someone dragging a blade across the inside of a bronze bowl.

He pressed his palm against the mark. The edges glowed pale blue, pulsing in time with the bell. His heart kicked hard. This wasn't supposed to happen. Not yet. Not while he was still figuring out how to stay alive long enough to matter.

The door slammed open. Mira stepped in, already armed, her coat half-fastened and her hair loose around her shoulders. She didn't look at him. She looked at his wrist.

"It lit up," she said.

"Yeah."

"On its own."

"Yeah."

She crossed the room in four strides and grabbed his forearm. Her fingers were cold. The seal flared brighter under her touch, and she let go fast, shaking her hand like she'd touched a stove.

"What did you do?"

"Nothing. I was asleep.