Lightning split the sky over Caelum as Leila and Virelle made their way into the old tombs. Rain had followed them to the tomb entrance and wet soil clung to their boots. Their footsteps echoed on the stone steps—the only sound in the still heavy silence. The deeper they went, the colder the air became: damp, thick with dust and old magic.
Virelle held up a glowing stone to light their way. Its pale light shook a little in her hands, as if the air made it uneasy.
"It hasn’t changed," Leila said quietly. Her voice didn’t rise much in the still air. "I was buried here once—not as a dead woman, but as a prisoner. When Marcus tried to erase my bloodline"
They reached the heart of the tomb. Before them lay massive stone coffins, and at the far end of the tomb stood a throne, carved straight
