The ruins of St. Jude Hospital rose out of the grey fog like the charred ribcage of a fallen titan. In this city of rain and soot, the hospital was a landmark of silence—a place where the past had been burned by fire.
I stepped out of the SUV, the heavy iron scent of wet ash hitting me instantly. I didn't look back at the blacked-out sedans I knew were idling five blocks away. I didn't need to. I could feel the cold, phantom tether of Kaelen's presence pulsing in the mark on my neck. He was watching my heart rate. He was listening to my breath.
I was a Sovereign walking into a trap, and for the first time, the Architect wasn't afraid.
The lobby was a graveyard of melted plastic and blackened gurneys. I didn't stop until I reached the elevator shaft. The doors had been pried open long ago, leaving a yawning throat of darkness. I took the service stairs, my boots crunching on glass and bone-dry plaster.
The third floor was different.
