~Annalyn POV~
Biat's voice cut in, hard but steady. "The stones don't care whose she is, Lupus, they only care what blood runs in her veins."
The words hit me hard, I wanted to shout, to deny it, but the truth pressed against me like a weight I could no longer hold back. The glow pulsed again, brighter this time, and the whispers filled the hall, voices without shape, without faces, speaking in a language older than any I knew. Yet somehow, I understood them.
Daughter. Return. Blood of ours. Blood of theirs. Come.
I clutched my head, gasping. "Stop... please, stop!"
Lupus turned me in his arms, panic flashing across his face. "Kaida, what is it? Tell me!"
"They're calling me," I whispered, trembling, my voice sounded like it belonged to someone else. "They know me. They… they want me."
Biat stepped closer, his eyes locked on mine. "Then we need to know why, if Kaelith learns the same truth before we do, she'll own you before you can fight it."
