Keiser felt the blade sing, its shrill hum clashing against the thrum of Muzio's mana. Only now did he understand why the little flame had called them the screaming blades. Aisha's mana carries a sound that wasn't just in the air, it tore through his hand, through his bones, vibrating with that familiar agony that made his teeth clench.
The hilt of the knife stopped it from cutting any deeper, but it was close enough that he felt the whisper of steel graze his cheek. The force behind it drove him a step backward.
Lenko's trembling hands were still wrapped around the weapon's grip, shaking but unrelenting, possessed with a strength that shouldn't have been there. Keiser's stomach turned when he looked at the boy's face.
Slack and empty. Half-lidded eyes staring at nothing.
His own dagger trembled in his hold, its edge resting at Lenko's neck. He tightened his grip until his knuckles went white, the arrow still lodged in his hand twisting painfully as he tried to steady the blade.
