The air inside the cavern was so thick it felt alive—viscous, clinging to my lungs, pressing against my chest. It wasn’t just the cold that made me tremble, but the feeling of being watched by something that did not belong to the world of the living. The echo of our footsteps bounced off the damp walls, hollow and ghostly, setting my nerves on edge.
I advanced slowly, never taking my eyes off the priestess waiting on the stone platform. With every step, my disbelief deepened. That woman did not radiate the serenity of the lunar priestesses I had met in Moon’s Fang; there was no peace in her expression, no purity in her aura. Everything about her was murky, as if darkness itself had taken form to watch us.
Clarisa growled inside me, her voice rough and tense.
“Don’t go any closer,” she w
