The seam in the wall kept widening, a thin black line splitting wider by degrees, and Seraphina backed toward the hearth with the poker still in her hand, her heart slamming so hard she could feel it in her teeth. She braced for something to come through. A hand. A claw. The thing that had growled beneath the throne room floor, finally arrived to collect on whatever debt her arrival had started.Nothing came.The seam stopped widening as suddenly as it had begun, hung open just far enough to breathe cold air into the room, and went still. No hand. No claw. Just a slot of darkness in the stone, patient the way everything in this citadel seemed to be patient, as if it had already decided it could wait for her.Seraphina stood there a long time, poker raised, listening to nothing happen. Eventually her arms ached enough that she lowered the iron, though she didn't set it down. She dragged the bed's iron frame an inch to the left, close enough to block the gap without touching it, and tol
Última actualización : 2026-08-19 Leer más