Chapter 9 · The Brother in the Crowd

“Get away from her, you psychotic bitch!”

Cael didn't just step in—he slammed his shoulder into Seline, shoving the investigator back toward the iron doors. Hard.

Seline didn't even flinch. She just laughed. It was a thin, metallic sound that made my skin crawl. “The twelfth sister has returned, Cael. You can’t fight the clock. Look at her. Look at what she’s become.”

I wasn't looking at her. I couldn't. My eyes were locked on the massive bronze bell hanging above us. Inside the metal, behind a shimmering veil of distortion, a pair of eyes had opened.

My brother. Leo.

He wasn't a ghost. He wasn't a memory. He was *there*, pressed against the inside of the bronze like a specimen in a jar.

“Leo!” I screamed. My voice tore through my throat, raw and jagged. I lunged forward.

Cael’s hand clamped around my wrist. His grip was bruising, hot, and desperate. He yanked me back, his chest heaving against my shoulder. I could smell salt and old iron on him—the scent of a man who’d died twelve times just to see me stand here.

“Mara, stop! It’s a trap.