Chapter 32 · Blood on the Master Key

His blood was in my mouth.

I don't know how. I just knew the taste, hot and coppery, running down my chin while I shoved both palms against the hole in his back.

"Lucian. Look at me. Lucian!"

His eyes rolled toward me and got stuck halfway. Every breath he took made a wet whistle, like air leaking out of a busted tire.

The lights were dead. The whole Spire had gone dark when Silvio cut the grid. Only the red emergency strip over the vault door was still burning, and it made everything look like the inside of a throat.

Something pounded the steel door from the other side. Three hard hits. Then a pause. Then three more.

"They're drilling the lock," I said.

"Biometrics... are down." He coughed. Pink foam hit my wrist. "They'll use a bar. Ten minutes."

"Then I've got ten minutes to stop you bleeding out on this floor."

"Bia." His hand came up and caught my wrist.