Emily Rosewood’s Point of View.
The Hollow – the Rootwell beneath the citadel, ten weeks and four days after the Gate closed
My hand pressed against the cold stone.
The door was massive—carved from the same dark granite as the Gate, veined with silver that pulsed beneath my touch like living veins. I felt it again, the tether that had been stirring inside me since my time in the Veil. It thrummed now, alive, answering something just beyond the stone.
“She’s in there,” I whispered.
Brant and Vaera stood behind me, tense. Mira, the scholar, traced ancient symbols along the walls with trembling fingers.
“This place… it shouldn’t exist. The records said the Rootwell was myth. A punishment the Seers only whispered about.”
I didn’t look away from the door.
“She was never a myth. They bur
