Chapter 21 · The Dead Wake Up

The cold hit first.

Not the sterile chill of the ritual chamber. This was grave-dirt cold, the kind that came with rot and stillness and things that shouldn't move. Nora felt it crawl up her spine half a second before the first body sat up.

It was one of Silas's guards. Throat cut three resets ago during a purge Nora only remembered because Kane had screamed the details at her an hour before his mind started cracking. The corpse jerked upright like something yanked it by the spine. Its head lolled. Then it turned.

And looked right at her.

"Elara." Nora's voice came out flat. She didn't take her eyes off the dead guard. "Tell me you didn't do this."

Elara didn't answer.

Nora risked a glance. Elara was still in the center of the chamber, but she wasn't holding Cade anymore. Her arms were empty. The core—pulsing and wet and wrong—had pulled back into the base of the column behind Silas. Elara's eyes were still lit, that sick gold glow bleeding through her pupils, but her face had gone slack.

"Elara!" Nora snapped.

Elara blinked. The glow flickered. "I didn't—" Her voice cracked. "I didn't choose this.