Hunger cycle

The blade called first to the most powerful person within reach who could be called at all, and once it had him it started climbing: not to the next strong man in the room, but to whoever held the most influence over the one already holding it. How hard it pulled depended on how recently it had eaten. A feeding made a specter, and while that specter was still forming the sword was quiet; the hunger came back only once the thing had settled into whatever life it had now.

In Beltran Grayeras’ hands it fed many times, and the last two of those were a week before the end, which is why it came out of the box at Wraithblade Keep hungrier than anyone who had carried it north had felt it.