Like a living heart, the door throbbed. I couldn't tell if I was beating or if my bones were trembling because every pulse shook the marrow and inserted itself into my breath.
The glowing runes were just inches away from my hand. It wasn't fire that rolled off them. It was recognition. Welcome. Claim.
Thorn's voice was rough behind me.” Ravenna—“ He didn't say to stop. He didn't say don’t. He only said my name, as if the sound of it alone could bind me to him.
With her voice splitting in a thousand echoes and her jaw unhinged, the faceless one's body dragged itself across the silver flood. Don’t open it. Don’t open it. Don’t open it. Like knives, each repetition tore at my back.
But the door whispered too. A low, resonant hum, ancient and patient. Do it. Remember me. Finish what was
