Lumi woke with a scream.
It wasn't a normal scream — or, it started that way, the kind of sharp, terrified cry that any four-year-old would make when something scared them in the night. But then it changed. The sound deepened, resonated, carried a harmonic that no human throat should be able to produce.
Royal Blood was speaking in its sleep.
Sera was there in seconds. She burst through Lumi's bedroom door, knife in hand, Royal Blood flaring hot through her veins — and found Lumi sitting up in bed, her golden eyes wide open, her small chest heaving.
"Mama," Lumi whispered. Her voice was shaking. "Mama, she was calling me."
Sera sat on the edge of the bed. Set the knife down. Pulled Lumi into her lap.
"Who was calling you?"
Lumi buried her face in Sera's shoulder. Her small hands fist
