Chapter 20. One Crown, No Masters

The scream did not fade.

It tore through the stone heart of Hollowridge like a blade dragged slowly across bone, vibrating through walls, through marrow, through memory. Wolves dropped to their knees in the square, hands clamped over their ears as if the sound itself were clawing at their minds. Elders staggered, faces drained of color, while the youngest snarled and whimpered, caught between terror and instinct, unsure whether to flee or fight something they could not see.

Seraya did not kneel.

She stood beneath the blood-stained sky, her feet planted on the stone as though rooted there, the mark across her chest burning white-hot, no longer a pulse but a steady blaze. The sound seemed to bend around her, acknowledging her even as it ravaged everything else.

Rael reached he