~Kaida Orion POV~
The cold traveling under my skin did not rush, it crept, patient, mapping me like a scribe tracing borders. I stood very still because any sudden motion made it spike sharp through veins and Lupus's fingers hovered over my collarbone; I saw the fight in his eyes between wanting to rip the dark bead free and trusting me when I said do not touch.
"It is under the surface now," I said. My own voice sounded distant.
Moon Priest leaned close, palms apart, feeling air currents instead of flesh. "Not poison, but pattern." His brow tightened. "It follows channels of vow memory."
Biat paced once, back stiff. "We just sealed the fourteenth, how does another hunger open so fast?"
"Because a hollow space invited it earlier," Rachael answered. "When you close a hole late, pressure shifts, and the parasite leaps ahead to the next unshaped year."
Fifteenth hungers, the whisper replayed inside with each slow beat.
