LOVE ME LIKE A CURSE
Maelis lifted the dagger high, its runes screaming with light.
The cavern filled with their voices, each Elder chanting in Elder Valerian, syllables older than kingdoms, older than language itself:
> “Veythra mor’thal, isyrne vekth,
Oath of blood, seal of flesh,
“Behold, the blood of Ysolde
So long we have kept it,Sealed in dark, guarded by oath, untouched lest prophecy demand its thirst.”
“Val’thir ashae, carath Ysolde, mor’thir en drav. Let her blood awaken, not as flesh, but as Mark."