The sealed laboratory trembled with the weight of the voice outside.
"Lady Ostreva!"
Bang. Bang. Bang!
"Lady Ostreva!!"
The pounding on the great vine-choked door grew more frantic.
"MOTHER! STOP—PLEASE—STOP THIS MADNESS! I'M BEGGING YOU!"
Eldryn's voice cracked with raw desperation.
But inside the sealed chamber, there was no time to look back.
The pounding on the door. Eldryn's voice. The Deathsong's last whispers curling like smoke in his ears.
Raven heard all of it.
But none of it mattered.
Not the slam of Eldryn fist on the thick wooden door behind them, fists breaking rhythm with panic.
Not the whispers—sickly remnants of a choir reduced to a single breath in the dark.
