The air changes before the alarms sound.
I feel it in my bones first.
A sharp, wrong pull—like the world itself took a breath and forgot how to let it go. The Flame inside me tightens, curling around the child with sudden, feral urgency.
My hand flies to my stomach instinctively.
“Zane,” I whisper.
He’s across the room in an instant.
“What is it?” His eyes are already lit with faint, molten light. “Is it the baby? Are you in pain?”
I shake my head, breath shallow. “Not pain. Pressure. Like something is… pressing against us from the outside.”
Jason bursts into the chamber without knocking, face pale and drawn.
“They’re doing it,” he says.
Zane stiffens. “Doing what?”
Jason’s gaze shifts to me, to the place where my fingers clutch my abdomen.
“They’re trying to break the veil.”
