Chapter 19 · The List Behind the Door

The blade bit deeper. Nessa felt the edge catch on skin, felt the slow drag as it started to open her throat. Her arm burned black all the way to the shoulder now, veins lit like charcoal wire.

Dorian moved.

He slammed into Elias from the side, shoulder first, and the knife jerked away. Blood tracked hot down Nessa's neck but the cut stayed shallow. She stumbled back, hand clamped to her throat, and watched Dorian pin Elias to the stone floor with one knee and both hands locked around his wrist.

"Let go," Dorian said. His voice came out flat. "Now."

Elias didn't answer. His eyes were black edge to edge, no iris left. The sigil on his neck pulsed once, twice, and his free hand shot up toward Dorian's face. Dorian caught it mid-swing and slammed it down hard enough that Nessa heard knuckles crack against stone.

"Nessa." Dorian didn't look at her. "The key. Use it."

She blinked. Her arm still burned. The black veins were spreading past her shoulder now, crawling across her collarbone in thin branches. She could feel the sigil inside her blood moving, pulling toward something below.

"Where?"

"The door Malrec went through.