Chapter 13 - 12: The Invitation of Thorns
Alaric stared up the stairwell.
The figure blocking the exit didn't move. The silver mask covered its entire face—smooth and polished, like it had never belonged to a person at all.
Just a shape.
A presence.
Its robes were white and gold, the colors of the Church's High Inquisitors, but the air around it was wrong. Too still. Too cold.
"Run," Alaric said softly.
Seraphine didn't argue.
She turned without hesitation and moved back into the underground vault. He waited until she was out of sight before taking a single step forward.
The masked figure tilted its head slightly.
"Your sister is not the one we came for," it said. The voice was strange—flat, and yet it echoed, like more than one person was speaking at once. "We seek the anomaly. The echo. The one who should not exist."
"You've found him," Alaric replied.