Lyria saw the silver eyes in the gap under the shrine and her whole body locked.
Not because she was scared.
Because she knew those eyes.
Not from a voice. Not from a story. From somewhere deeper. Somewhere old and wrong and stuck in her head before she even knew what to call it.
The thing under the floor moved again.
Then the chain jerked harder around Kael's ankle.
He hit the stone with his hand and snarled through his teeth. Ronan grabbed the chain with both hands and dug in, but it kept dragging him anyway. The stone around the hole split wider, ugly cracks racing across the floor like the room itself was giving up.
"Kael!" Lyria grabbed for his arm.
He looked up at her, face hard with strain. "Don't let go."
"Wasn't planning to."
