Page 77 of Red Ruin

Remy accesses the lost upper levels of his brain. His clear, red eyes glance casually around the dark. “Where are we?”

“You tell me.”

“Ah.” He banishes the shadows around our feet. “This is problematic.”

I wince at the ground.

The elaborate array is wrecked. The white lines are scattered, leaving nothing but a layer of semi-charred, gray dust and ominous smoke rising from beyond the seam of Remy’s barrier.

“Without the chalk—” I start.

“That isn’t chalk.”

“Then what?”

“Bone.”

My stomach flips.

“It’s dense with divine power,” Remy says, drawing a line through the mess with a toe. “Dragon bone.”

The Faervaine family doesn’t casually pass around its divine power. Let alone the powderedbonesof the dragons who sired their line.

Unless the world is ending?

“Are there records stored on base?” Someone must’ve left notes to warn future generations what was sealed under our feet.

“Who knows?”

Right.

Fantastic.

The problem-solving can wait. For now, I take a deep breath—the last one I’ll get to take for a while. “I’ll deal with Vhex. See if you can learn anything from whatever’s left of the seal. But stick close and shadow-walk us out of here if anything moves.”

Remy’s silks hook, stopping me from pulling away.

“Leave Trezzoran to his fate,” Remy says. “He’s beyond saving.”

That’s rich.

“I don’t abandon Sentinels. But if I did?” I lift my chin. “Your damage is worse than his.”

“He—”

“Drop your shadows and get ready to move,” I order, adding a little bite through my badge.

“As you wish.Commander.”

I shiver from the rich lilt of his voice.

When Remy’s shadows disappear, a blast of hellfire strips off all my dead skin. The ground is a lake of lava everywhere except for the island where Remy and I stand, his shadows holding back the tide.

Goodbye, array.

Goodbye, hope.

All I’ve got left is adrenaline and a palmful of vampire cum.

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