The water of the underground stream was a liquid shroud, leaching the warmth from Seraphina’s limbs as she dragged Gia onto a narrow shelf of slick, moss-covered rock. Above, the earth-shaking roar of the explosion had subsided into a terrifying, gravelly silence. The ventilation shaft was gone—a tomb of twisted metal and rubble that had swallowed Alessandro Romano.
"Sera... we have to go back," Gia sobbed, her breath hitching in the pitch-black cave. "He’s still up there. He saved us."
"He didn't save us so we could stand here and drown in the dark," Seraphina hissed, though her chest felt like it had been hollowed out with a rusted blade. She squeezed the new Ledger against her ribs. The revelation inside—Luca Ricci: Romano Bloodline—was a poison she hadn't yet processed. "We move forw
