Mercy's Crown

Some nights don't want to be survived.

Christmas Eve is one of them.

Rowan Mercer didn't come to the cemetery Looking for answers.

But the tunnels beneath it have been waiting for her - patiently, hungrily, and far longer than she realizes.

When a brutal winter storm traps her underground, the old catacombs begin to twist around her. The lantern in her hand pulses like a living thing. Memories slip. The walls breathe. And a stranger named Trevor appears in the dark, warm-voiced and impossible, following her with familiarity they shouldn't trust.

He calls himself a guide.

The catacombs call her something else.

Rowan can feel it every time the lantern flares - every time the shadows bend toward her, every time the night folds in on itself:

Something down her wants her.

Something ancient.

Something choosing her by name.

And before dawn, Rowan will either become its answer...or its offering.