"Move!" Cassian spat, slamming his hand against the heavy iron-reinforced door of the service tunnel. "They shifted the schedule. The Elders aren't waiting for morning."
The clanging of the spire bell hit my chest like a physical blow. The deep, ominous vibrations echoed through the stone beneath our boots, signaling that the Grand Assembly had already been called to order.
"We don't have the disguises yet," Lyra said, her blade still dripping with water from the rain-slicked alley outside. "Marcus’s contact isn't supposed to meet us for another two hours."
"We go in without them," Cassian said. He grabbed the iron ring on the trapdoor at the base of the palace wall, muscle straining against his coat as he hauled the rusted grating open. "If the Council presents the relic tonight, it’s
