Chapter 17 · Scarlet Authorization

The thing in the chamber opened its eyes.

Scarlet light spilled across the black glass floor, thin as blood beneath a door. It caught on the broken pillars, on the cables hanging from the ceiling, on Marlow Finch’s pale face as he crouched behind a fractured console with one hand clamped over his ribs.

It caught on Sera Vale.

She stood at the foot of the buried throne, blood dripping from her cut palm. The drops struck the metal steps one by one. Each impact answered with a soft mechanical pulse.

Eli heard it inside his chest.

Thum.

Thum.

Thum.

The ember beneath his skin flared in time with the machine.

“Eli,” Sera said without looking back. “Tell me that expression means you have a plan.”

He stared at the warframe suspended above them.

It was taller than any human, broad-shouldered and lean-waisted, built from overlapping plates of dark alloy that drank the red light instead of reflecting it. Its armor was scarred by old impacts. One horn-like blade swept back from each shoulder.