Chapter 22 · The First Lock

"Don't let him finish." Cade shoved Ivy behind him before Rowan could speak again. "Whatever he says, don't listen."

"You don't get to order me around." Ivy caught the back of Cade's coat and yanked him toward her. "Not after lying about the Council. Not after letting me forget your name."

His shoulder slammed into hers. Heat pushed through the thin fabric between them. Blood ran from the cut at his temple and vanished beneath his collar.

Around them, the dead turned as one.

Mira stumbled toward the broken platform. "Ivy, stop fighting with him and look up!"

Ivy looked.

Black threads ran from Rowan's chest to every corpse in the plaza. The ugly light pulsing through them matched the magic that had crawled over Cade's ribs before the thirteenth bell stopped.

Every dead face turned toward Cade.

Then toward Ivy.

"They're not hunting him," Mira said. "They're making a ring around you."

"Yeah. I noticed."

"Good. Because I don't have better news."

Rowan's fingers jerked. His head snapped backward.

When he spoke, the voice wasn't his.

"The first key stands between the lock and the door. The second key has already touched the lock.