I Raised the Demon Queen (Now She Won't Leave Me Alone)

In the quiet before the chaos, the cathedral bells rang like any other afternoon—soft, solemn, and forgettable.

But Revantra's shoulders tensed anyway.

She was sitting in the school library, flipping through a volume on "Emotionally Intelligent Spells for Teenage Mages," mostly because the title had made Elias snort out loud and she was determined to prove she could be emotionally intelligent if the spells gave her a chance. The book was boring. Her thoughts were wandering. But then—an itch. Not on her skin, but somewhere deeper, just behind her ribs.

She closed the book with a snap.

Elias looked up from the table next to her, where he'd been doodling practice glyphs in his notebook. "Done already?"

"Something's wrong."

That got his attention. "What kind of wrong?"

"The kind that makes your blood hum," she muttered. She glanced toward the window. The cathedral was visible just past the school rooftops. Distant. Innocent-looking.

But something behind its walls had just screamed.

Revantra stood so fast her chair toppled. "It's the relic."

Elias blinked. "What relic?"