Chapter 15 · The Door Wants Me

Dorian's hand closed around my wrist before I could pull away.

"Don't," Kieran said. His voice cracked on the word.

I didn't look at him. Couldn't. Every time I blinked I saw the memory Elise shoved into my head—Kieran standing over her with that knife, Dorian's voice calm in the background, and my sister's eyes wide and terrified before they went empty.

Dorian smiled at me. Close up, his face looked older than I'd thought. Lines around his mouth. Gray at his temples. "Your sister made the same face when she realized what the door wanted. That exact expression." He tilted his head. "It's fascinating how genetics work."

"Let her go." Kieran stepped forward. Two guards moved to block him, rifles raised.

"Or what?" Dorian didn't even glance back. "You'll tear the bond? Kill yourself and leave her here anyway?" He pulled me toward the door. My feet slid on the broken tile. "The bond was always temporary, Rook. You knew that. We both did."

The red light from the cracks in the floor was getting brighter. I could feel heat coming up through the ground now, like standing too close to a furnace.