Greyson’s POV
The scream outside was wrong.
Not pain.
Terror.
The kind that spreads faster than fire.
I was moving before thought formed.
One hand locked around Zara’s wrist.
The other grabbed my sword from the corpse nearest the tunnel breach.
“Davon, seal the passages.”
“Already shouting it.”
“Laura, stay behind us.”
Laura lifted a bloodied spear.
“I’ve earned front-row privileges.”
There would be no arguing with anyone today, apparently.
We burst into the courtyard.
And everything stopped.
The moonstone stood at the center of the grounds as it had for generations—towering, pale, carved with ancient lunar runes.
Only now it was bleeding black.
Dark veins crawled across the stone like rot spreading through flesh.
Warriors formed a circle around it but kept their distanc
