"You shouldn't have followed me."
Magnolia's voice rang out in the darkness, sharp as flint against stone. Her silhouette stood against the dim torchlight of the underground chamber, arms rigid at her sides, breath rising in short, labored bursts. Behind her, the veins of glowing ore in the cave walls pulsed with a rhythmic heartbeat, as if the earth itself was listening.
Savannah slowed, boots crunching over bones and old dust, her voice low. "You didn't leave much of a choice, Mag. You vanished during a war council. Rhett was ready to tear down half the estate to find you."
Magnolia didn't turn. "He shouldn't have come either."
"I didn't come for him," Savannah snapped. "I came for you. Because whatever is happening down here, it's already changing you."
