The sound of the chant was worse than the silence that followed. It clung to the courtyard like smoke, every heartbeat echoing too loudly against my ribs.
Choose, the shards whispered.
The silver continued to burn through Thorn's chest like unquenchable fire as he sagged against the stone. Wild, hurt, and defiant, his eyes met mine, and he shook his head even as he was bleeding.
"Not me," he rasped. "You dare not."
The wolves squatted at the circle's edge, their bodies trembling from the silver's hold. With her teeth exposed and her claws digging into the stone, Mira couldn’t move. They couldn't. Their breaths syncing like one monstrous lung, bound by the reflection.
The child’s voice returned, sweet and sharp as glass.
“You can save him. All of them. But not as you are.”
A shard fl
