There was no blood.
Sekenre held up the still living head. Its eyes rolled up until only the whites were visible. The mouth muttered something unintelligible, but definitely spoke.
Now Sekenre addressed his captive as Hansherat had never heard him speak before, his voice breaking, like a boy imitating a giant, his thin chest unable to sound the thunderous tones, but the manner, the diction, the accent were not those of Sekenre at all, but of another speaking through him.
not“So you have discovered my stratagem. My hiding place is found out. I had thought to attack. Now I am to defend. So be it. I am not afraid.”
He breathed into the girl-thing’s face and it blackened, smoked, and shrivelled, like a ball of crumpled paper at the edge of a fire. He threw it across the room, then stood up
