Three of us had made it through. Lucien was already gone — a blur of golden wings disappearing through the Keep's shattered front doors. A demon unhinged. Deaf to reason. Deaf to everything except the need to reach Raven before it was too late.
He wouldn't wait. He wouldn't strategize. He wouldn't even look back.
Selena squeezed my hand. I squeezed back.
We were on our own.
The one place in the world I didn't want her to be.
Then from deep inside the Keep, something laughed.
Low. Guttural. Echoing off the stone walls like it was coming from everywhere at once. Not the laughter of something amused. The laughter of something that had been waiting.
Chapter Thirty-One
Selena
The evil laughter was all around us as I clasped Rocco’s arm. I broke out in goosebumps, running down from my neck to my arms.
“Come on,” he whispered. “Stay close.”
He didn’t have to tell me that. The Keep had grown darker since we’d been here last—impossibly darker, as if the shadows had thickened into something solid. Even with my vampire eyes, I could barely see three feet in front of me.
Rocco pulled me up the stairs, flight by flight, the laughter dogging us at every turn—bouncing off the stone, shifting direction, impossible to pin down.
But there was something else. Even using vampire speed, I felt like I was moving through mud. Every step took much effort, every stride covered half the distance it should have. As if the Keep itself was pushing against us.
“Do you feel that?” I tightened my grip on his arm. “It’s like we’re walking in quicksand.”
“Vex is slowing us down. Burning the clock.”
A door above us slammed open. I flinched, pressing closer to Rocco, my eyes snapping upward toward the sound.
Lucien stood on the landing, his golden wings tucked tight against his back. Even he was breathing hard—and demons didn’t tire easily. “She’s not up there.” His voice was raw. “No altar. No Raven. Nothing. And it took me twice as long as it should have to search it.”
“You feel it too,” Rocco said. “He’s slowing us down.”
“The whole Keep is fighting us,” Lucien snarled. “Every hallway feels a mile long. Every door takes too much effort to open. He’s playing with us.”
“Then he’s moved her and the altar,” Rocco said. “She could be anywhere in this Keep.”
My stomach dropped. The Keep was massive—towers, corridors, underground chambers we hadn't even seen. Searching every room could take hours we didn't have. And if Vex had moved Raven deliberately, it meant he wanted us wandering. Lost. Separated. Easy to pick off one by one.
I gripped Rocco's arm tighter. Whatever happened, we were not splitting up.
“We split up.” Lucien’s eyes burned. “It’s the only way.”
“Don’t do anything rash,” Rocco warned. “Vex is doing this for a reason. He wants us separated. Panicked. Making mistakes.”
“I’m more powerful.” The voice slithered out of the darkness like a blade across silk. Close. Too close—as if Vex were standing right between us, breathing the same air.
I jumped, my hand tightening on Rocco’s arm.
“Show yourself, you bastard,” Lucien growled.
“You’ll never find me in time.” A pause. Then the laughter erupted again—wild, unhinged, ricocheting off the walls until the whole Keep seemed to shake with it.
We were wasting time. Lucien had gone one direction, we'd gone another, and Vex was somewhere in between, laughing while Raven's clock ran out. If we split up, we could cover more ground. Find her faster. It was reckless and stupid and exactly the kind of thing Vex wanted us to do — but the alternative was searching room by room while midnight crept closer.
