"Wait, Elara—stop!" I lunged forward, my fingers catching the fabric of her sleeve, but she wrenched her arm away with a violent jerk.
"Let go of me, Seraphina!" Elara snarled, her breath coming in ragged gasps as she bypassed the stone bench entirely. "If you won't do what needs to be done to protect this keep, then I will. I'm going to end this right now before that creature opens a door we can never shut again."
"No, you don't understand!" I scrambled after her, my boots sliding on the loose gravel as she stormed toward the main manor doors. "He's not in the catacombs! He's—he's upstairs! In the study!"
Elara froze mid-stride, her boots halting on the marble steps. She whipped her head around, her eyes wide with lethal disbelief. "Upstairs? You left that monster unattended in the study?!"
