Chapter 20 · The Memory Beneath the Gates

"Ronan!"

The seawater tore his hand out of mine.

His face vanished behind a wall of black water. The ruined seal he'd shoved into my palm burned white-hot, then split down the middle.

I kicked toward him.

My lungs locked up.

"Take my hand!" he shouted.

His voice came from everywhere—above me, below me, inside my skull.

I reached anyway.

My fingers closed around cold metal.

The water disappeared.

I hit my knees in a flooded control chamber and coughed until my ribs screamed. Water poured from my hair, soaked through my shirt, and ran down my back.

The floor shook beneath my palms.

A silver crack cut across the black stone in front of me.

It pulsed once.

Then again.

"Ronan?" I shoved myself upright. "Where the hell are you?"

Nothing.

The covenant pressed against my chest like a second heartbeat. His pain brushed mine—sharp, hot, and way too close.

He was alive.

Somewhere inside this nightmare, he was alive.

And he was fighting not to wake up.

"Fine," I muttered. "I'll find you myself.