The silver pendant caught the firelight as Vera stepped forward, its surface dancing with reflected embers.
"Close your eyes, my queen." Her voice carried the particular hush of someone who had witnessed miracles and knew their cost. "This will be the sharpest part."
Aurelia's lashes lowered. Her hands, clasped before her, showed white at the knuckles.
She stepped toward the fire. "Materna anima, quae sanguine et amore ligata est. Audi vocem filiae tuae. Ex umbra mortis, per filii sanguinem, per cor quod adhuc amat…"
The pendant trembled. Not from Vera's grip—her fingers were steady as stone—but from something within the metal itself, some resonance answering the words.
"Redi ad vinculum verum. Frange falsum. Aperi viam inter animam et animam."
She threw the pendant into the fire. As Vera lowered the silver metal into the center of the flames, where the blood of the siblings had mingled, a blinding white light erupted.
