GRACE POV
I knew the moment I stepped into the new room that it wasn’t meant for me to walk out of it unchanged.
The corridor narrowed behind us and then opened into a space that felt wrong in a way my body understood before my mind could fully process it. The air was heavier here, thick with something that crawled over my skin and settled at the back of my throat, a taste like old fear and rot and magic that had been waiting far too long to be used again.
The walls were smooth, deliberately shaped, stone polished by time and intent rather than erosion. This wasn’t a place that had been forgotten underground—it had been *prepared*. Maintained. Respected, in the sick way monsters respected sacred ground.
And at the center of the room—cutting it cleanly in half—was the veil.
It wasn’t
