Scarlett’s POV

The stone is colder than it has ever been. Not the quiet, sleeping cold it carried for centuries—but something sharp. Awake. Alert. As if it’s watching me.

I stand barefoot at the heart of the circle, the ancestral stone rising before me like a rib pulled from the earth’s chest. The runes etched into its surface glow faintly, pulsing in time with my heartbeat. Or maybe it’s the other way around. Maybe my heart is already answering it.

I shouldn’t be doing this alone. ...