THE HEIRESS THEY BURRIED
The crystal housing shattered around the space where the Key had floated, and as it did, Elara felt something shift far beyond the walls of this chamber entirely.
A warmth bloomed against her ribs, the First Key, fixed forever into the Quinn estate fireplace, answering across hundreds of miles.
Beside it, a second pulse, steady and familiar, the Second Key, still resting untouched beneath the ash where she'd left it.
And now, warm in her own hand, the Third.
Three Keys, joined at last, though only one had ever physically left its place.
Somewhere deep beneath Blackwood, a sound rolled through the facility that none of them had heard before, enormous locking mechanisms, ancient and long dorma