The pebble struck the bottom of the crater with a faint echo.
"If you're alive, say something."
The others descended and landed beside Ethan.
Seraphine raised a shield around the group. Everyone stared into the crater, waiting for Malverin to respond.
At last, footsteps rose from below.
Malverin slowly stood, holding one broken half of his scepter in each hand.
"Of course I'm alive."
His voice remained steady, but it couldn't hide his exhaustion and irritation.
Ethan frowned.
Malverin had lost his church and the dark blue mud. Even the final pillar he'd summoned had been stopped.
Yet he was still fighting.
What was he after?
The bird-beaked mask on Malverin's face began to come loose.
Its fastenings fell away one by one, and the long beak slid down, revealing an old man's face.
Ethan stared at him, struck by an odd sense of familiarity.
He had never met Malverin before.
