Joji only peeped into the main chamber.
A chimera stood there, over three meters tall, shoulders hunched beneath the low stone.
Black veins crawled through its skin like ink spilled under flesh. The head was human.
Joji knew that face.
Mary Cathryn Lacrosse's house had portraits, kept like prayers on the wall.
Beneath one name, written. Jaime Lacrosse.
Once a knight of Everhart. Her missing eldest son.
He was alive by dark magic, stitched back into motion.
Yet he was not docile. His jaw was clenched. His eyes were wet with rage.
His whole body shook as if it was trying to tear itself free from its own seams.
"I'm not giving up," Jaime roared.
His voice grated wrong, demonic in the throat, but the will behind it was still steel.
A chuckle answered him from the shadows.
"Don't be stubborn. Just be under my control. Don't worry. I'll take care of your mom. Ki. Ki. Ki."
Jaime's posture buckled for a heartbeat, like the words had hands.
Joji's blood turned cold.
