What's happening? Ethan asked.

Nyra bowed until her forehead touched the stone, palms pressed flat as though the ground itself were sacred.

“She is the anchor.”

The words did not settle. They struck.

Silence fell, thick and suffocating.

Arielle’s breath hitched. “What…?” The sound barely left her throat.

Seraphina laughed, sharp and short, the kind that came when something was too absurd to entertain. “That’s impossible.”

Ethan didn’t react. He stood utterly still, eyes ...