The scream started as a laugh.
Not human. Not sane.
It came from the most petite figure in the room—one of the pages who fetched water and ink. Forgettable. Brown hair. Thin wrists. Her presence was so unremarkable that most people never looked twice.
But now she laughed.
Her body convulsed. Her spine arched. An oily shimmer rippled across her skin as though something underneath was pushing out.
“Talia,” Lucian said under his breath. “Behind me.”
He didn’t have to pull her. She had already moved, Kaela snarling in her head. Protect the pups!
The page’s skin split.
Black slickness poured out like oil forced through seams. Bones thinned and lengthened. Her face went slack, eyes melting into black pools.
The voice that came from her mouth was wet and delighted.
“I kill Varin,” she
