Chapter 22 · Untitled Chapter

"Mara. Don't trust the memory." Elise pressed her bloody palm against the black glass.

I lurched toward her. The corridor bucked beneath my boots, every sealed door blowing open at once. Men, women, and children spilled into the passage, screaming and clawing at the walls.

"Get away from the door!" Kells shouted.

Kieran caught my wrist before I reached the glass. His palm burned against my skin. Blood soaked his shirt where he'd driven the shard into his own chest.

"Look at me," he said. "Not her."

"That's Elise."

"I know."

"She's alive."

His grip tightened. "Not the way you think."

Behind the glass, the younger Elise raised both hands. Black lines spread beneath her skin and crawled across the door.

"He took the night from you," she said. "He took it from both of us."

Kells stepped closer, silver coat torn and blood running down his cheek. "Still sentimental after all these years? That's disappointing."

Elise's head snapped toward him. "You don't get to touch her."

"You can't protect anyone. You couldn't even protect yourself."

The glass door opened.

Cold air struck my face. Wet stone. Burned metal. Rot under the floor.

Elise stepped through without making a sound.