Chapter 20 · The Door Wants a Bride

Nina's voice cuts out and I'm already moving.

Elias says my name but I don't stop. The black door is three feet away and it's humming now, that low frequency that makes my teeth ache. I can feel it pulling at something under my ribs, the same thing it pulled the first time I walked into this room.

"Mara, don't."

I ignore him. My hands are shaking so hard I drop my picks twice before I get them into the lock on his chains. The metal is hot. Not warm. Hot. Like someone left it on a stove.

"She's bait," Elias says. His voice is rough, scraped raw. "Rook knows you'll come. That's the whole point."

"Then I guess he's getting what he wants."

The lock clicks open. Elias jerks his wrist free and grabs mine before I can move. His fingers are cold. Too cold. The veins under his skin look darker than they did an hour ago, threading up his forearm like cracks in ice.

"You can't save both of us," he says.

I yank my hand back. "Watch me."

He almost laughs. It's a bitter sound, not the kind that means anything's funny.