64 | Charge

*** Riona's POV

"Will you do it again?" I had asked Dawn, my voice steady but my heart racing.

"Every time," she had answered without hesitation, her tone as cold as ever.

"When?"

"That's not the question you want to ask me," she had replied, her sharp eyes narrowing in that way that always told me she was two steps ahead.

"Aren’t you tired of burying them?" My voice cracked just slightly.

"You bury them," she had said, emotionless.

"Fuck you," I’d spat back, knowing it wouldn't cut as deep as I wanted.

"Is that all?"

"Give me the charge," I had demanded, my desperation barely contained.

"It’s simpler to bury them," she had said with that infuriating calmness.

"Give. Me. The. Charge."

And then, a voice I didn’t recognize had cut through the air. "It’s already done. I hope you survive. I really do."

Another night, reliving the same moment. More than four decades later, I’d make the same choice. Every single time. The only thing I’d change? Maybe adding a rune to automatically summon a