Chapter 23 · Behind the Wall

My mother screamed again.

Not a scared little gasp. Not pain from some cut or broken bone.

This was the sound of somebody seeing a nightmare crawl out of the dark and realizing it knew her name.

"Mom!" I slammed both hands against the stone wall.

The ring on my finger burned so hard I almost tore it off. E.V. carved into the old gold. My mother’s initials. Her blood. Mine.

Behind the wall, something hit stone.

The whole lower level shook.

Dust rained from the ceiling. Somewhere down the corridor, metal bars screamed against metal. Hunters shouted. One of them fired a gun, and the shot cracked through the underground halls.

Dorian caught my elbow before I could throw myself at the wall again.

"Mara. Stop."

"She’s in there."

"I know."

"Then open it."

His hand tightened around my arm. Silver veins crawled from under his cuff toward his wrist, dark and ugly under his skin. His face had gone too pale. His eyes were almost black now, except for the thin ring of silver around the pupils.

"You already opened part of it," he said.

"That wasn’t the deal.