Chapter 12 The Burden Of Knowing

• The light from the pendant had barely dimmed when silence reclaimed the Reliquary. The Severed were gone—banished or obliterated, Lena couldn’t tell—but the energy they left behind hung heavy in the air. It was like breathing ash, thick and bitter.
• Lena lowered her hand, her pulse slowly steadying. She could still feel the burn of the vessels’ energy running through her veins. The pendant, warm against her chest, pulsed once more and then quieted.
• Cael approached, cautious but impressed. “You fought them without lifting a blade.”