Rage exploded inside me.
Not at Naeris. At the voice. At the creature that dared to poison the one pure thing in my existence. I bared my teeth. I would sooner rip out my own heart. The corridor blurred. The mark burned like liquid fire. Footsteps rounded the corner.
Naeris.
She came to an abrupt halt.
Her eyes widened. “Thyros.”
I lifted my head. The terror on her face nearly destroyed me. Not fear of me. Fearforme.
The Harrowed One hissed in fury.
Do it. Kill her.
My body trembled with the effort of holding myself together.
“Stay back,” I ground out.
Naeris took one look at me and did the exact opposite. She stepped forward. Her expression changed. Shock flickered across her features. Her hand flew to her temple. And suddenly, impossibly, I felt her inside my mind. Not as an intruder. As light. As warmth. As the steady, indomitable presence that had become the axis of my world.
Get away from him.
Her voice rang through my consciousness with such force that the corridor seemed to vibrate. The darkness recoiled.
He is mine, Naeris voice was fierce and full of control.You do not get to touch him.
Power surged through the bond. The golden thread transformed into a blazing current, wrapping around the black tendrils in my mind and burning them away.
The Harrowed One shrieked.This changes nothing.But his voice fractured.
You cannot keep him from?—
"Get out." Naeris’ mental command cracked like a whip.
For one suspended heartbeat, silence reigned. I roared and pushed against the Harrowed One. Without warning, the presence vanished. The darkness on my back went still. Air rushed into my lungs. I sagged against the wall, sweat dripping down my body.
Naeris reached me a second later, and her hands framed my face with trembling urgency. “Thyros.”
My name on her lips was ragged with fear. That her fear wasforme nearly undid me. The darkness still hissed at the edges of my thoughts. My entire body shook with the effort of holding it back, of keeping every violent impulse chained where it belonged.
“Get away from me,” I ground out, each word torn from between clenched teeth. “I cannot?—”
“You won’t hurt me.” The certainty in her voice hit me harder than any weapon.
My eyes snapped to hers. They were luminous. Brown and gold and blazing with a fierce, unwavering faith that stole what remained of my breath. The faint scar under her eye caught my attention again, before my eyes drifted back to her face. There was no hesitation in her expression.
No fear.
No doubt.
She looked at me as if the truth were self-evident. As if the idea that I might harm her was not merely unlikely, but impossible. The conviction in her gaze cut through the last tendrils of darkness clinging to my mind. Because she was right. By the seven suns, she was right. I would sooner carve my own heart from my chest. I would sooner cast myself into the deepest reaches of Nox Eternum. I would sooner let the Harrowed One consume me whole than lay a single harmful hand upon her.
The realization struck with the force of a supernova. The darkness recoiled fully. My breathing shuddered. In that moment, with her palms warm against my face and her unwavering trust wrapped around me like light, I understood a truth more powerful than any whisper from the Abyss.
The Harrowed One could tempt me.
It could threaten me.
