Chapter 18 · Elias Walks Out of the Dark

Malrec’s dead hand locked around Nessa’s ankle hard enough to grind bone.

She kicked him in the face. Once. Twice. His neck rolled with each hit, but his fingers only dug deeper. Cold nails punched through her stocking.

Then the floor split under his body, and the corpse started dragging her into the dark.

“Nessa!” Dorian lunged.

His wounded leg folded before he reached her. He hit one knee, caught her wrist, and nearly pulled her shoulder out of place. The marriage mark around Nessa’s arm burned bright red. His cut palm opened again, and hers answered with a sharp, wet sting.

Blood ran between her fingers.

“Stop bleeding on everything,” she snapped.

“Excellent advice.” His jaw tightened as Malrec pulled harder. “Kick him again.”

“I did.”

“Try with feeling.”

The stone beneath Malrec had cracked into a black circle. Not broken. Opened. Lines from the old vault mark ran across the floor in perfect curves, eating through Sable’s containment seal one stroke at a time.

The blood-written words NEXT VICTIM smeared under Nessa’s heel.

Malrec’s mouth opened.

This time, the voice that came out wasn’t Colin’s.

“Ness.