Roseth’s smile fades as she watches my face. I step backward without meaning to.
“Khaivor?” she utters
The bell continues to sing regardless. Every instinct in me screams warning.
I felt something I never had before, raw fear as the sound distorts my composure. This isn't something a simple human can create.
It is something more
5
ROSETH
The bell does not fade the way bells should.
Most tones bloom, shimmer, then slip quietly into the background noise of the forge. This one lingers long enough that I forget to breathe. The sound stretches thin instead of weakening, like threads pulled from molten glass. Even after the metal stops vibrating, the echo continues somewhere deeper than air.
Khaivor circles the testing hook slowly. He moves the way he does when listening closely, as though every step must avoid disturbing something fragile.
"You made this tonight?" he asks.
"Yes." I answer swiftly.
"You changed nothing in your process?"
"I never change anything," I reply. "I follow what feels right."
His gaze lifts to mine briefly, searching for hesitation. Finding none, he returns to the bell.
"May I?" he asks.
"It is yours to listen to," I say. "Not to steal."
He reacts—a slight stiffening, a pause. "I would never steal a bell from you."
His fingertip touches the rim.
The tone deepens, grows louder. Not sharper. The sound simply expands, as though the forge has grown larger to hold it. The resonance fills the space differently than it should, layering frequencies I didn't know I'd crafted.
His eyes close.
For a heartbeat, the tension that always lives in his shoulders dissolves completely. It vanishes so suddenly the absence feels startling—like watching a door open that I never noticed was closed.
He opens his eyes slowly. "This resonance branches."
“That sounds suspiciously impressed."
"It is also deeply confusing."
I lean against the worktable, folding my arms. "Explain."
He does not resist this time.
"Every object holds a natural frequency," he begins. "Strike it correctly and it produces a tone. Alter the structure and the tone shifts. Add enchantment and the tone changes again. Your bell behaves as if multiple enchantments have been layered into it, yet I sense no spellwork. No magical framework. Nothing that should allow this."
"I did nothing different." I reply.
"I believe you."
