Chapter 13 · The Lost Crown

"Don't touch it again."

Elias caught her wrist before Nia could move. Black lines crawled out from under his sleeve, pulsing in time with the mark burned into her palm.

She yanked against his grip. "Let go."

"I mean it."

"So do I."

His fingers tightened. Not enough to hurt. Just enough to remind her he was still trying to stop her.

Behind them, the white door sealed with a deep, clean click.

Tavi swore. "That's bad, right? Doors don't usually lock after the creepy child voice announces somebody's royalty."

Kellan leaned against him, pale and shaking. His eyes jumped from one memory on the wall to the next. A red blanket. A woman with silver rings. A baby crying under a machine shaped like a crown.

Their memories.

His and hers.

Nia could still feel the warmth of Kellan's skin under her palm. She'd touched him, and for three seconds he'd remembered everything. Not fragments. Not the broken pieces the Crownstack had left him.

Everything.

Then it snapped shut. Now his hands were trembling again.

"Elias," she said. "What happens if I take the ember?"

His jaw flexed.

"That's not an answer."

"It can burn through the lockdown.