Evelyne changed into her nightgown, letting the soft fabric settle over her skin, and collapsed onto the bed. Exhaustion clawed at her relentlessly, but one thought kept her from surrendering to sleep—the sigil.
She reached for the book of sacred signs and began scanning the pages for something, anything. Weariness dragged at her mind, her vision beginning to dim. And then, at the edge of her awareness, she spotted it. The symbol behind her family’s manor.
Her fingers hesitated above the serpentine etchings and angular markings, wary of disturbing the ominous design. She traced the ink lightly, half expecting the page to thrum with the same unnatural energy as the sigil burned into the stone. But nothing stirred.
Still, her pulse hammered in her chest as her focus settled on the title beneath the sigil.
The Sigil of the Lost
The lost must remain lost. Seek them, and the darkness will claim you as well.
This sigil is no mere warning. It is a curse woven from shadow and bound by blood. It cannot be undone or unraveled by fate. To unseal it is to summon the will of its master.
Those who bear this mark are claimed, bound in servitude, their flesh branded with its power. It darkens with their corruption and burns with their defiance. To resist is to suffer.
This is the work of blood magic, wielded by one who does not warn, but takes. What is claimed cannot be returned.
Beware the sigil. It does not herald death but something far worse: eternal enslavement.
Her father was right. It was a warning.
The lost must remain lost.
No. She would find him. She would free him.
With a sharp breath, she snapped the book shut, the sound cutting through the silence. This time, when sleep pulled at her, she let it take her.
***
A cool draft seeped through the room, curling around Alaric’s skin like an unwelcome hand. He stirred, shifting beneath the thick woolblankets, but the unnatural chill persisted. A deep exhale left his lips, fogging slightly in the air. That wasn’t right. His brow furrowed as he blinked awake, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. His instincts stirred uneasily.
The floor was freezing beneath him, a shock against his feet as he stood. Alaric looked toward the window, expecting to find it open, but it was shut tight. No cracks. No gaps. Where was the cold coming from?
A flicker of golden light caught his attention from the nightstand, and his pulse began to quicken. The map.
Alaric lunged for it, quickly unrolling the parchment and spreading it across the bed. The outpost’s location glowed gold, marking where they were. But that wasn’t what made his stomach drop. Dark ink bled across the map, spreading like a stain, swallowing the land around them.
Something was here. Something had returned.
His body went rigid as urgency took hold. He yanked on his pants, lacing them up in a rush. Boots followed, pulled on with practiced speed. He grabbed his shirt from the edge of the bed but didn’t bother putting it on. There was no time. He had to find Evelyne,now.
He stormed out of his room and pounded on her door.
No answer.
“Evelyne,” he said frantically.
Then the door creaked open, revealing her standing in the dimness, hair unbound, skin bathed in soft light, the delicate fabric of her nightgown skimming over her toned thighs and barely concealing the swell of her chest.
His breath stilled, warmth creeping along his neck, but the thought slipped past him. He swallowed and snapped his gaze up to meet hers.
“Get dressed,” he ordered. “Something isn’t right.”
They were outside the lodge within minutes, Evelyne struggling to keep pace with Alaric’s near-frantic strides. He wasn’t sure what he was looking for, only that the map felt alive in his hands, its ink pulsing like a beating heart and spreading deeper into the outpost with every passing second.
The darkness on the map shifted. Alaric’s grip tightened as he reached for Evelyne’s arm, pulling her close. “I don’t know what we’re walking into, or who’s behind it… but if anything goes wrong, you run.”
The fear in her eyes was immediate, but she pressed her bag tighter against her side and nodded.
