Chapter 15 · The Seven Minutes They Cut

"Don't touch that page." Dorian caught my wrist before my blood finished spreading across the paper.

The archive floor split under us.

A red line raced through the stone, cutting a circle around the document. White fog poured up from the cracks and wrapped around Dorian's boots. He jerked me against his chest, hard enough to knock the breath out of me.

"You were going to tell me what the seal means," I said. "Tell me now."

His hand stayed locked around mine. His palm was hot. Too hot. Blood had soaked through the bandage beneath his ribs, darkening his shirt and dripping onto my fingers.

"Mara—"

"Don't use my name like that." I yanked against him. "Not after Calder announced you were dead. Not after you recognized this mark and decided I didn't deserve the truth."

Beyond the sealed doors, Calder's voice slid through the metal speakers.

"Mara Vale, the archive is burning. Open the inner gate, and I may let you keep the warden's body."

Dorian's jaw tightened.

"He can't hear us through the fog," I said.

"He doesn't need to. He knows what this place does."

"Then you know more than you're saying.