The chamber trembled.
Silver fire burned higher along the walls, its pale light flickering over the ancient carvings beneath their feet while the chained skeleton at the center of the room rattled violently against the altar. Dust loosened from the ceiling above and drifted downward in thin streams. Somewhere beyond the underground ruins, the storm above the district seemed to grow louder, as if the entire shrine had become the center of a restless breath waiting to be released.
Selene froze in place.
The pulse inside her chest had become unbearable.
Not painful in the ordinary sense.
It felt like recognition.
Like something buried deep beneath her ribs had just heard a name it had been waiting centuries to answer.
