Page 150 of Savage Crown

There is no heartbeat.

Not yet.

But there will be.

The spell is already inside me.

The moment I touched the book, I understood.

I saw my father’s hands on these same pages.

I felt his desperation, his need, his failure.

But I will not fail.

I crack the book open, fingers shaking.

The pages shift beneath my touch.

The ink glows silver and black, shifting, curling, moving as if alive.

The words aren’t written in just one language.

They are written in many.

Some I know.

Some I was never meant to understand.

And yet, as I read, the meaning burns into me.

"To break the veil, one must give."

"Not blood. Not bone."

"Something greater."

I grit my teeth.

I already knew that.

My father knew it too.

But he wasn’t willing to pay the price.

I am.

I inhale sharply, my chest tightening.

"Speak the name of the lost."

"Call them from the void."

My voice comes out hoarse. Rough. Breaking.

"Seraphina."

The cave shudders.

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