Chapter 21 · The Army Turns

"Move, Mara!" Dorian slammed his shoulder into the stone soldier just as its blade came down.

The strike split the floor where my head had been. Dust punched into my eyes. I stumbled backward, straight into Dorian's chest.

His arm locked around my waist. His breath hit the side of my neck, hot and rough.

"Let go."

"If I let go, it cuts you in half."

"Then aim it at the soldier."

"Brilliant plan."

He dragged me sideways as another black-armored figure stepped out of the wall. Stone scraped over stone. Three soldiers now blocked the vault entrance, their empty faces turned toward us.

The command vault had sealed itself the second we crossed the threshold. No door. No handle. Just a slab of black stone behind Dorian, covered in old cuts and half-erased names.

The memory shard sat on the altar in the center of the room.

My mother's shard.

It was small enough to fit between two fingers. Pale gold. Cracked down the middle. It pulsed every time the buried army moved.

"You said the soldiers would stay down," I snapped.

Dorian shoved me behind him. "I said they were supposed to stay down.