Chapter 94 The Living Key

• The makeshift laboratory in the basement of the palazzo was bathed in a bluish gloom, lit only by the floating screens Verona had deployed. The metallic scent of old dust mingled with the burnt electricity of the equipment Ethan had left behind. Everything vibrated with expectant silence, as if the walls knew that what was about to happen was more important than any war that had erupted above.
• I wasn’t breathing. Or, rather, I breathed like someone about to open a tomb she didn’t want to acknowledge as her own.
• Verona activated the scanner for my implant. A low hum slid down my spine.