The earth split beneath their feet.

Again.

But this time, it didn’t feel like a wound or a mouth.

It felt like a heartbeat.

Lyla staggered, the talisman scorching her palms as the ground heaved. The circle Kane had carved glowed with crimson light, its veins spreading like cracks through the earth. The air vibrated with a deep, rhythmic thrum slow, steady, inevitable.

The Hollow King's pulse.

Across the clearing, Kane grinned, his chest rising and falling with labored breaths. ...