“Ryder?”
Her voice was barely a whisper, trembling between fear and longing. The sound seemed to vanish into the thick dark.
No answer came.
Only the echo of her heartbeat , hard, insistent, alive.
She reached for the fallen candle, hands shaking, and tried to relight it with a spark of her power. Her magic flickered weakly, sputtering like a dying ember. The flame refused to stay. It was as if the room itself drank in her energy, devouring the light before it could bloom.
Sienna’s throat tightened. “You said run…”
Her voice caught. Before I forget who you are.
Something about that tone , broken, desperate , pierced her deeper than any blade. It wasn’t just a threat. It was a warning.
She took a slow step back, eyes scanning the endless shadows. The runes carved into the stone w
