Selene wrapped the fractured crystal in cloth and tied it tight beside the name pouch. The second it left the pedestal, the violet light in the vault snuffed out like someone had pinched a candle.
For three heartbeats the chamber was nothing but dust and the kind of quiet that makes your ears ring.
Then the floor jumped under their boots.
A deep grinding sound rolled through the walls. Dust poured from the ceiling in thin gray curtains. Across the vault a section of stone that had looked solid as the rest of the mountain split open with a long, wet crack.
A stair dropped away into darkness, breathing out colder air and the thick, musky smell of animal dens.
Selene's voice stayed flat. "We woke something."
Aiden pressed a hand to his ribs. They still ached from the earlier hit, but the incubus power under his skin was already climbing, restless and hungry. "Or we just unlocked the door it was sitting behind. Exit the way we came is still open. For now."
