Chapter 9 · The Second Corpse Opens Its Eyes

The corpse’s eyes opened.

Not with the soft twitch of a dying thing. Not with the blind, milky roll of a body dragged back by bad magic.

They opened all at once.

Silver light spilled through the irises, bright as moonlight trapped beneath ice. The dead woman’s fingers tightened around the empty hourglass. Glass clicked against bone. A thin line of black blood crawled from the knife wound in her throat and disappeared beneath her collar.

Kieran moved before Eve could breathe.

His shoulder struck her chest, driving her backward. Pain burst beneath his torn coat as he raised his revolver with one hand and caught the corpse’s wrist with the other. The motion pulled at the wound beneath his ribs. His jaw clenched, but he made no sound.

“Stay behind me,” he said.

Eve stared at the back of his head. Dark hair damp with sweat. Blood soaking through the bandage at his side. The familiar angle of his shoulders, even though he looked at her like a stranger.

The corpse smiled.

“You still do that.”

Kieran’s gun pressed against the corpse’s temple. “Who are you?”

The corpse turned her eyes toward him. “You know.”

“I don’t.