Chapter 9 · Echoes from the Pit

"Tessa, move!" Rowan caught the back of her coat and yanked her away from the collapsing bridge.

Stone dropped into the black shaft below. It vanished without a sound.

Tessa slammed into Rowan's chest. His arm locked around her waist, keeping her boots from sliding over the broken edge. Heat pressed through his coat. His breath brushed the side of her face, sharp and controlled.

"Let go," she snapped.

"You want to fall?"

"I want you to stop touching me."

"Then stop trying to die every ten seconds."

The seal under Tessa's ribs pulsed hard enough to hurt. A red line flashed across the inside of her wrist.

COUNTDOWN: 01:47:22.

Then the numbers skipped.

01:46:58.

Tessa stared at the seal. "That wasn't a minute."

"I noticed."

"The prison is speeding it up."

"No." Rowan shoved her behind him as another section of stone broke loose. "Something below is feeding it."

From the pit came a scream.

Not a monster's scream. Not metal. Not stone grinding against stone.

A woman's voice ripped through the dark.

"Tessa Quill!"

Tessa froze.

Rowan's hand closed around her wrist.