Mayla's heart stopped.
She watched with a helpless stare as Rex's claws sank deep into Guarani's throat, past flesh and artery, until they wrapped around the spine. Then, as if wanting her to see clearly what he was about to do, Rex paused to smirk before snapping the spine.
A sharp, wet crack echoed loudly, but it was like a thunderclap for Mayla.
Guarani's body went limp instantly, and he crumpled on the stone spear.
For a long, suspended second, the world unraveled around her. The sound of rapid wind from the vortex faded. Everything in between—also faded. All of it drowned beneath the roar of silence filling her skull as her round eyes stared at Guarani's corpse in utter shock.
Her eyes could see him, the person she shared decades with in battle, but her mind refused the image.
Mayla refused to grasp that Guarani was already gone.
It took watching Rex carve out Guarani's heart and devour it for the death to register in her mind.
