Lub-dub.

  The pulse came again, low and resonant, like the tolling of the summoning bell. It reverberated through Kleo, pulling her from the deep, restless sleep of exhaustion. Beside her, Jack slept soundly, his breathing steady, a comforting counterpoint to the rhythm that thrummed through her chest. From the adjacent room, she could hear the raspy snores of the brothers, blissfully oblivious.

  Lub-dub.

  Stronger now. Faster. The intervals between beats had shortened. She closed her eyes and focused, trying to let the sound fade into the background. Jack deserved his rest. He had bravely faced the fight with Morghadus and earned a night free of worry. But for her, there would be no ignoring it. The pulse had become a nightly visitor, a strange, persistent rhythm she couldn’t understand but felt compelled to unravel.

  She stilled herself, searching inward, seeking the origin of the pulse. Was it inside her? Could it be her mana? Her breath slowed as she reached for the connection, tracing the resonance within her.

  Lub-dub.

  Her core. Of course. The realization wasn’t surprising, but what did surprise her was that she hadn’t considered it sooner. This wasn’t mana, though—it wasn’t a natural extension of her power. No, this was other. Something foreign that borrowed her mana to amplify itself, like a signal carried on the tides of her essence.

  Lub-dub.

  She stiffened. It had grown stronger since the battle. Morghadus had tested her in ways she hadn’t expected, swelling her power to dangerous heights, tempting her to let it flow unchecked, obliterating everything in its path. The thrill of that power, the allure of its promise, had been intoxicating. It would always be a test—her control, her will, her resistance to corruption.

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  But this signal wasn’t her corruption. It was something else, something external, calling to her.

  Lub-dub.

  She rose from the bed, careful not to wake Jack, and moved to the far corner of the room, testing the rhythm. It was subtle, but how it resonated within her seemed... different. She crossed to the opposite corner.

  Lub-dub.

  There. A faint shift, almost imperceptible, but real. She didn’t have proof—only a hunch, a whisper of logic she couldn’t ignore. She grabbed her cloak and slipped outside into the chill night air without hesitation. The abbey loomed ahead, its silhouette stark against the darkened sky. Rain still lingered in the air, the ground damp beneath her feet.

  Lub-dub.

  The pulse flared again, and this time, she felt it—a directional tug, subtle but unmistakable. South. She limped across the courtyard, careful to avoid the rancid goat pit. Falling into that would be a humiliation she wasn’t prepared to endure.

  Lub-dub.

  The resonance grew sharper as she moved, tickling her core in a way that clarified her suspicions. A few more data points, and she could confirm it—triangulate its source. She mentally mapped the angles, and Rugr’s rigorous lessons in mathematics returned to her as she calculated.

  South. The signal came from the south.

  Her breath caught. Rugr. She missed him. She hadn’t realized how much until now. For all her independence, Rugr had been her anchor—her father in all but blood. She hadn’t been apart from him for this long before, and the thought of him alone in the world filled her with a sharp ache. Was he safe? Did he miss her too?

  The night air pressed against her skin, heavy with the lingering dampness of rain. The pulse had gone quiet again, its nightly rhythm complete, but its message was clear. This changed everything.

  As she made her way back to the cottage, her resolve crystallized. Ilimar no longer mattered. The pull of the pulse couldn’t be ignored. Tomorrow, they would head south. Whatever lay at the source of the signal would hold the answers she needed.

  Jack would understand. He always did.

  When she returned to the room, Bitter was sprawled across the floor, snoring. She rubbed his head and climbed into bed, snuggling up to Jack. She was afraid she had awoken him because he spoke in a whiny voice. “but I don’t wanna fight the demon.”

  She rolled her eyes, laid her head on his chest, and fell asleep.