The second impact split one of the carved lines running across the vault doors, and a narrow crack opened in the stone. Cold air pushed through it at once, sharp enough to make the silver tablets scattered around Elowen begin to tremble against the floor. Their humming rose into a thin, painful note that seemed to press against the inside of Zinnia’s skull.
Ronan struck the other side again.
“Do not open it,” he called.
His voice still sounded like his own, but the laughter beneath it had not disappeared.
Cassian moved toward the doors, then stopped before touching them. Blood darkened the front of his shirt where Ronan had seized him earlier, and bruising had spread along one side of his jaw. His dark hair had fallen loose across his forehead, making him look less like the composed co
