"He's awake."
The words did not sound like Aliena.
They came from her lips, but the voice belonged to someone older.
Someone who had been waiting for centuries.
The archive fell silent.
Sebastian stared at her.
For several seconds, nobody moved.
Even Queen Leticia, who had been standing near the doorway with an expression that had remained strangely calm throughout everything, finally lost the faint smile on her lips.
"Aliena?"
Sebastian stepped toward her.
Aliena's red eyes remained fixed on the darkness between the shelves.
Her fingers slowly curled around the edge of the ancient book.
Then she whispered again.
"He heard us."
A cold wind swept through the archive.
The candles went out.
One.
Two.
Three.
Until the entire room was swallowed by darkness.
Sebastian's hand immediately found Aliena's.
"Stay behind me."
She didn't move.
Instead, she looked down.
Something black was spreading beneath her feet.
A thin line.
Then another.
Then another.
